Animals ; Benzodiazepines ; pharmacology ; Ducks ; physiology ; Growth Hormone ; blood ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; metabolism ; Serum ; metabolism ; Weight Gain ; drug effects

OBJECTIVETo study the effects of different administrations of antibodies against adipocyte plasma membrane proteins on growth and fat deposition in rats.

METHODNinety six female SD rats that weighed approximately 140 g were allotted randomly into four groups which were given negitive control yolk and positive yolk containing antibody (IgY) against adipocyte plasma membrane (APM) proteins by intragastric administration (i.g.) and subcutaneous injection (s.c.) respectively. Rats were given 1 ml of yolk for every three days in i.g. groups. Rats were given 1 ml of yolk for 4 consecutive days, and the procedure was repeated after one month. The trial lasted for 75 days after which rats were slaughtered for carcass analysis and sampling.

RESULTSThe body weight gain and food intake of rats were not different between treatment and control groups. In i.g. goups, positive yolk decreased mesemteric fat index, paramertrial fat index and perirenal fat index (P < 0.05), reduced serum triglycerides (P < 0.05) and increased serum free fatty acids (FFA) (P < 0.01), and also decreased serum leptin, insulin and TNF-alpha levels ( P < 0.01 or P < 0.05), but did not affect gastrocnemius muscle index and serum cholesterol. In s.c. groups, positive yolk increased gastrocnemius muscle index (P < 0.05), reduced serum triglycerides and serum leptin (P < 0.01), increased serum TNF-alpha (P < 0.05), but did not affect adipose tissue depots, serum FFA, cholesterol and insulin.

CONCLUSIONAdministration of yolk antibody against APM proteins could effectively improve body composition of rats, and the treatment by intragastric administration could give better effect than by subcutaneous injection.

Adipose Tissue ; growth & development ; Animals ; Antibodies ; pharmacology ; Body Composition ; Egg Yolk ; immunology ; Female ; Growth and Development ; physiology ; Immunization ; Membrane Glycoproteins ; immunology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Objective To summarize our experience in prevention and treatment of stricture after esopageal burns in the past thirty years.Methods There were 168 cases in this series.Of them,158 cases underwent surgical management in this study.Modified intraluminal stenting was used in 34 cases, colon interposition without resection of strictured esophagus in 77 cases,gastric transposion with resection of the stricture in 27,repair of cervical stricture with platysma myocutaneous flap in 22,and miscellane- ous operation in 12.Eleven cases experienced operation twice or more at our department.Results Twenty-nine cases recovered after treatment with intraluminal stenting,and 5 re-experienced stricture after stent removal.One of the 5 cases with failed stent responded to bougienage,and the remaining 4 cases re- quired esophageal reconstruction later.Of the 77 colon interpositions,5 cases died postoperatively,and complications of cervical anastomotic fistula occurred in 14 cases,anastomotic stenosis in 4,and abdomi- nal incision dehiscence in 2 cases.In the 27 cases with gastric transpositions,postoperative complications of anastomotic stricture occurred in 2 cases and empyema in 1 patient.There was a cervical leak in 3 ca- ses of the 22 cases treated with the repair of cervical esopageal or anastomotic stricture with a platysma myocutaneous flap.In the 12 cases treated with miscellaneous operation,one died of intestinal obstruc- tion.All the survivors had regular diet after discharge.Conclusions Intraluminal stenting can prevent the formation of caustic esophageal stricture.The location of the cicatricial esophagus dictates whether to perform concomitant esophagectomy during esophageal reconstruction.Platysma myocutaneous flap repair is an excellent method for the treatment of severe cervical esophageal or anastomotic stricture.

Objective　To explore the effect of video-assi sted thoracic surgery (VATS) on common diseases of chest. Methods　Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery was performed on 131 patients with ches t diseases from April 1994 to December 2000 in which 109 cases were spontane ous pneumothorax and hemothorax, 10 pulmonary tuberculoma, 5 pulmonary carcinoma , 3 esophageal carcinoma, 2 localized benign mesothelioma, 1 pulmonary hamartoma and 1 myasthenia gravis. Results　There was no operative death in all cases. Four patients with spontaneous pneumothorax complicated persist ent air leak(more than 7 d) and 1 patient with hemopneumothorax formed hemoth orax after the operation, which was stopped by the second VATS. The others recov ered well without any postoperative complications. Conclusion　 VATS is characterized by safety and mild tissue injury in the operation, and les s pain, fewer complications, rapid recovery and short duration of hospitalizatio n after the operation.

Aim To investigate the effect of TaorenHonghua drug pair on intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) in rats.Methods Fifty healthy Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group,model group,sham group,meloxicam group and Taoren-Honghua drug pair group,with 10 rats in each group.We established dynamic and static forces imbalance of cervical disc degeneration model or sham surgery in rats.12 weeks later,rats were intragastrically administered with meloxicam,Taoren-Honghua drug pair or saline for 30 days.C4/5 and C6/7 discs were harvested from rats.ABOG staining was used for observation of intervertebral disc morphology,real time PCR for mRNA expressions of type Ⅱ collagen (Col Ⅱ) and type Ⅹ collagen (Col Ⅹ),and immunohistochemical staining for Col Ⅱ and Col Ⅹ.Results Compared with model group,Col Ⅱ expression increased,while Col X expression decreased in chondrocyte of intervertebral disc in Taoren-Honghua-treated group(P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion Taoren-Honghua drug pair could delay the degeneration of cartilage endplate in rat intervertebral disc.

The aim of this study was to obtain the capsid protein VP2 of human bocavirus (HBoV) identified in Beijing recently and construct virus-like particles (VLPs) in insect cells for further study of this virus. The full-length VP2 gene of HBoV from BJ3722 was inserted into the baculovirus expression transfer vector (pFastBac 1) to obtain the recombinant Bacmid, and generation of recombinant baculoviruses was followed by transfection of the recombinant Bacmid into insect cells. Then the recombinant VP2 protein was recognized by SDS-PAGE using Coomassie-blue staining and Western blot using hyper-immune serum against VP2 of HBoV from rabbit. The recombinant baculoviruses were harvested and amplified to gain large amounts of viruses with high titers to infect insect cells at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0. 5. After 7-10 days or 4-5 days of the infection, the supernatants of culture or the cell lysates treated with lysing solution were harvested, and ultracentrifuged twice through 40% sucrose cushion to obtain purified VLPs, which were followed by Western blot and IFA for VLPs' composition and specificity analysis, by electron microscopy for VLPs' morphologic structure. The recombinant VP2 protein with molecular weight of approximately 61 kD expressed in recombinant baculoviruses was recognized by SDS-PAGE using Coomassie-blue staining and Western blot. The presence of VP2 on VLPs was demonstrated by Western blot and IFA from samples collected during the purification of VLPs from the supernatants of culture or the cell lysates, and the expression of VP2 in insect cells led to the formation of VLPs which formed the typical icosahedral appearance of parvoviruses with a diameter of approximately 20 nm. In conclusion, the recombinant baculoviruses were constructed, the HBoV VP2 protein was expressed in insect cells with high specific antigenicity and VLPs was formed successfully.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Capsid Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cell Line ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect ; Human bocavirus ; genetics ; metabolism ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Spodoptera ; Virion ; genetics ; metabolism ; ultrastructure

OBJECTIVETo find out the importance of human bocavirus (HBoV) as an infectious agent for population in Beijing, China, seroprevalence study was conducted by using expressed recombinant major capsid VP2 protein as an antigen.

METHODSSerum specimens collected from infants and children who visited the Children's Hospital Affiliated to the Capital Institute of Pediatrics for health check up and adults visited the Xuanwu Hospital, Beijing for diseases other than respiratory infections from April 1996 to March 1997 were used for investigation. The major capsid protein VP2 from HBoV was expressed in E. coli strain BL21 (DE3) with the transformed PET30b vector inserted with full-length VP2 gene of HBoV and the specific antigenicity of this expressed protein was validated by previous study. Western blot was used to detect specific IgG antibody against HBoV in collected serum specimens diluted to 1:200. Mock expressed protein was E. coli cells strain BL21 (DE3) with the transformed PET30b vector without insert. Anti-His monoclonal antibody and rabbit anti-HBoV VP2 polypeptides hyper-immune serum were used as positive control for antibody detection.

RESULTSOut of 677 serum specimens tested, 400 (59.1%) were positive by Western blot. About 45.3% (34/75) of the newborns under 1 month of age had anti-HBoV antibodies, and antibody positive rates were lower in the age groups of 1 and 2 months (41.4% and 31.3%, respectively) and were higher in the following ages from 6 months to 7 years (from 45.6% to 69.7%). The antibody positive rates were at a relatively constant level (about 70%) in the age groups from 7 years to 40 years and became lower (61.8% - 62.8%) in groups of age over 50 years.

CONCLUSIONThe high seroprevalence against recombinant HBoV VP2 protein and early age antibody acquisition indicate that HBoV has been circulating in Beijing, China as early as in 1996 and most of children had been exposed to HBoV by the age of 7 years. Infants under the age of 6 months were susceptible to infection with this virus.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; Blotting, Western ; Bocavirus ; immunology ; Capsid Proteins ; immunology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Parvoviridae Infections ; epidemiology ; immunology ; Prevalence ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo characterize the prevalence of influenza B virus infection in infants and young children in Beijing.

METHODSMDCK cell culture, indirect fluorescence assay (IFA) and hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay were used to isolate and identify type B influenza viruses from clinical samples collected from outpatients and inpatients who visited the Affiliated Children's Hospital because of acute respiratory infections from Nov. 2000 to Jun. 2006.

RESULTSOut of 10,770 clinical samples collected during this surveillance period, 384 (3.57%, 384/10,770) were positive for influenza B viruses. Circulation of influenza B viruses was revealed in the later epidemic season of influenza viruses each year. The detection rate for influenza B virus was higher than 10% each year during the survey, except in the period from 2003--2004 which was 2.91%. The highest detecting rate was 23.69% of the specimens collected in Mar. 2006. During the period of this study, most of the influenza B virus were identified from children who visited the outpatient department of the Affiliated Children's Hospital. Among those outpatients who were positive for influenza B, 77.6% (264/340) were older than 3 years of age, whereas the inpatients positive for influenza B, 66.0% (29/44) were under 3 years of age. Coinfection of influenza B virus with other respiratory viruses was not common, only one of the influenza B virus positive specimen was found also positive for influenza A3. There was no significant difference in positive rate between influenza virus B and A3. A significantly higher positive rate of influenza B virus than that of influenza A3 virus was seen from Sep. 2005 to May 2006 (23.9% vs 1.1%). B/Yamagata/16/168 lineage viruses were dominant during 2000--2002, and B/Victoria/2/87 lineage viruses became dominant during 2002--2003. After 2003, co-circulation of Victoria and Yamagata lineages of influenza B viruses was identified with predominance of Yamagata lineage viruses, while Victoria lineage viruses predominated during the 2005--2006 epidemic season.

CONCLUSIONInfluenza B viruses were identified from February to May in every influenza season during this surveillance period of 2000--2006. Most of the positive specimens were those collected from outpatient department. Victoria and Yamagata lineages of influenza B viruses co-circulated in Beijing, China in recent years.

Adolescent ; Age Distribution ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Influenza B virus ; classification ; isolation & purification ; Influenza, Human ; epidemiology ; virology ; Male ; Prevalence

OBJECTIVETo understand the impact of human parainfluenza virus (HPIV) on acute respiratory infections in infants and young children in Beijing.

METHODSMultiplex reverse transcription-PCR was used to amplify the hemagglutinin (HA) gene fragment of HPIV from clinical specimens. Primer pairs derived from a conserved region of the HA genes of HPIV were used to develop the multiplex RT-PCR for detecting and typing HPIV. The sensitivity and specificity of the method were determined by using various RNA and DNA viruses as controls. Specimens collected from 3519 children with acute respiratory infections from Aug. 2003 to Apr. 2006 were analyzed for HPIV by the multiplex RT-PCR as well as for other respiratory viruses by virus isolation and/or indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA). Ten amplicons with expected molecular weight matching different types of HPIV were randomly selected for sequence analysis.

RESULTSOnly the cDNA from the isolated strains of HPIV 1 and 3 was positive by the multiplex RT-PCR. Phylogenetic analysis for those 10 amplicons' sequences which belong to HPIV 1 - 4 types respectively as determined by multiplex-PCR indicated that these specimens were truly HPIV positive. These 10 HPIV positive specimens included two specimens of type 4 which was further subtyped as HPIV4A and 4B by sequence analysis. With the multiplex RT-PCR, HPIV were detected in 349 out of 3519 specimens with the positive rate of 9.9% (349/3519), which is higher than 4.8% by the methods of virus isolation and/or IFA. And the HPIV positive rates were high in patients with not only acute upper but also lower respiratory tract infection. No regular seasonality distribution of HPIV infection was found. HPIV 1 and 3 were more common than HPIV 2 and 4.

CONCLUSIONWith higher sensitivity and specificity than virus isolation and IFA, multiplex RT-PCR is beneficial for the etiologic and epidemiologic studies on HPIV, as well as for HPIV typing. The data from this study indicate that HPIV is one of the important etiological viruses of acute respiratory tract infections in infants and young children in Beijing.

Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Genes, Viral ; HN Protein ; genetics ; Humans ; Infant ; Paramyxoviridae Infections ; epidemiology ; virology ; Phylogeny ; Prevalence ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; epidemiology ; virology ; Respirovirus ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVETo characterize the prevalence and occurrence of subgroups of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants and young children with acute respiratory infections (ARI) in Beijing area.

METHODSRSVs were identified from nasopharyngeal aspirates and throat swabs collected from infants and children with ARI who visited the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics during the period of November 2000 to March 2006, by virus isolation in Hep-2 cells and antigen detection by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). RT-PCR was used to differentiate subgroups A and B of RSV from part of the positive specimens.

RESULTSOut of 10 048 specimens including 7176 nasopharyngeal aspirates from inpatients and 2872 throat swabs from outpatients, 2286 (22.8%) were RSV positive. The positive rate for RSV identification were 30.0% (2153/7176) in specimens from the hospitalized patients, which was higher than that from outpatients (4.6%, 133/2872). The youngest of the RSV positive patients was 1 day after birth and the oldest was 15 years of age, with 73.0% younger than 1 year. Among those RSV positives, only 1.6% were older than 5 years. The ratio of male to female who were RSV positive was 2.4:1 (1598:674). The clinical diagnosis for 91.2% (1991) of those RSV positive patients was severe lower respiratory infections including bronchiolitis and pneumonia, whereas in only 8.8% (192) the diagnosis was upper respiratory infections. The data revealed that RSV started to be detected in October each year during the survey period and November to next April was the RSV season. The detection rate declined in May and almost no RSV could be found in summer. Positive rates for RSV detection were 42.3%, 41.0% and 40.5% in the seasons of 2001 - 2002, 2003 - 2004, 2005 - 2006, which were higher than those in seasons of 2000 - 2001 (14.0%), 2002 - 2003 (18.2%), 2004 - 2005 (20.4%). Subtyping of A and B during the surveillance period showed that 73.7% (691/938) were subgroup A and 26.3% (247/938) were subgroup B. Subgroup B was predominant in the 2000 - 2001 and 2004 - 2005 seasons, whereas subgroup A predominated in the 2001 - 2002, 2002 - 2003 and 2003 - 2004 seasons. Almost equal proportions of subgroup A and B appeared in 2005 - 2006 seasons.

CONCLUSIONThe data indicate that RSV is an important etiological agent for lower respiratory infections in infants and young children in winter and spring during the survey period. The pattern of RSV circulation varied alternately with higher rate every other year. The predominant subgroup changed between A and B, and co-circulated in equal proportion in some years.

Adolescent ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Population Surveillance ; Prevalence ; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; virology ; Seasons