We described a human case of zoonotic dog tapeworm, Dipylidium caninum (Eucestoda: Dilepidiidae), rarely occurring in China. The mother of a 17 month-old boy noted the appearance of small white and active worms over a month period in her son’s feces, but the boy was asymptomatic except mild diarrhea. We observed 3 tapeworm proglottids resembling cucumber seeds in his stool sample. Microscopically, each proglottid had 2 genital pores, 1 on each lateral edge, and numerous egg capsules in the uterus. The patient was successfully treated with a single oral dose of praziquantel. Adult worms were recovered in the diarrheic stool after praziquantel treatment and purgation. His family had household pet dogs for several years, and he might have acquired the infection by ingestion of infected fleas of his pet dogs. A history of dog or cat pets and flea bites may be important clues to diagnosis of D. caninum infection. The infected pets should also be treated.
Adult ; Animals ; Capsules ; Cats ; Cestoda* ; Cestode Infections ; China* ; Diagnosis ; Diarrhea ; Dogs* ; Eating ; Family Characteristics ; Feces ; Humans* ; Male ; Mothers ; Ovum ; Praziquantel ; Siphonaptera ; Uterus

Human-animal parasitic diseases caused by medical helminths are hazardous to human health. Genetic polymorphism studies on medical helminth populations can not only understand the biological characteristics and genetic structure of their populations, but also help reveal how they adapt to their parasitic environment, thus contributing to deepen our understanding of the epidemiological patterns of parasitic diseases and improve our understanding of accurate prevention and control of parasitic diseases. With the development of molecular biology, molecular markers such as DNA barcodes, simple sequence repeats, and single nucleotide polymorphism markers have been widely used to study the genetic relationships among parasite populations and individuals, and to reveal the genetic variation of parasite populations and the evolution of species origins. In this paper, we systematically review the application of three molecular markers commonly used in the study of genetic polymorphism in medical helminths, with a view to laying the foundation for related research.

Objective To observe the effects of urokinase in the treatment of thrombosis in hemodialysis patients with arteriovenous fistulae and to discuss simple, safe and effective methods of thrombolysis. Methods Local injections of urokinase were applied in 23 hemodialysis patients for 43 times to treat thrombosis in fistula, then the effects were observed, and the changes between before treatment and after treatment of several index, such as activated partial thromboplastin time( APTT), Fibrinogen( Fbg), international normalized ratio (INR), Prothrombin Time (PT), thrombin time(TT) were compared. Results The thrombolytic therapies were used in 23 cases for 43 times in total, in which 33 times (76.7% ) received success, and there were no severe complications occurred. The effectiveness was related to the duration of thrombosis. There were no significant differences in comparison of APTT, Fbg, INR, PT, TT before and after urokinase administration. Conclusions Urokinase was effective in thrombolytic therapy for hemodialysis patients with thrombosis in arteriovenous fistula.

Objective To investigate the situation of the natural infection of hantaviruses (HV) in small mammals and to provide evidence for the control and prevention of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Longquan area,Zhejiang province. Methods Small mammals were captured by night trap, and lung tissue samples were collected and stored in liquid nitrogen. HV antigens were detected by indirect immuno-fluorescence assay (IFA). The partial S genome segment sequences were amplified by RT-PCR. DNAStar program was used for editing and comparing the sequences. Phylogeny was analyzed through PAUP*4.0 software. Results 319 small animals were collected in Longquan, and 9 hantavirus antigen-positive samples were identified. The positive rate of hantavirus in Apodemus agrarius was 4.97% . Phylogenetic tree constructed by partial S segment (620-999 nt) showed that the 9 strains carried by A agrarius from Longquan all belonged to HTNV,and had a closer evolutionary relationship with isolate Z251 from Zhejiang province. Conclusion Our results indicated that the main host was A. agrarius and the infection rate of HTNV was high in Longquan area.

AIMTo explore a method of the stable and persistent expression of HERG(human ether-a-go-go-related gene) channels in Xenopus oocytes, and investigate the alteration of rest membrane potential of oocytes and electrophysiological properties of expressed channel in different culture duration.

METHODSHERG mRNA for injection was prepared with in intro transcription using vector plasmid pSP64 containing HERG cDNA fragment. Expressed HERG current was recorded using standard two-microelectrode voltage-clamp technique.

RESULTS(1) Functional channels, with electrophysiological properties consistent with those of HERG channels were persistently expressed in oocytes membrane with this method. Furthermore, channel current could be recorded stably in 10-15 days. (2) The negative value of rest membrane potential increased gradually in the 3, 6, and 9 days of culture, and then decreased in the 12 days. The potential of peak value of inward rectification shifted gradually to the positive direction in 3, 6 and 9 days, and recovered in 12 days. Half-maximal activation potential (V1/2) of heterological expressed current shifted gradually to the negative direction in 3, 6 and 9 days of culture and then recovered in 12 days, the tendency of change was coincident with that of membrane rest potential.

CONCLUSIONThe investigation provides a method of persistent expression of HERG channel in Xenopus oocytes and offers evidences for the difference of electrophysiological experimental data of studies of molecular site and drugs effect of HERG channel in different experimental conditions.

Animals ; Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Membrane Potentials ; Oocytes ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Xenopus laevis

BACKGROUNDKetanserin (KT), a selective serotonin (5-HT) 2-receptor antagonist, reduces peripheral blood pressure by blocking the activation of peripheral 5-HT receptors. In this study electrophysiological method was used to investigate the effect of KT and potassium ion on Kv1.3 potassium channels and explore the role of blocker KT in the alteration of channel kinetics contributing to the potassium ion imbalances.

METHODSKv1.3 channels were expressed in xenopus oocytes, and currents were measured using the two-microelectrode voltage-clamp technique.

RESULTSKCl made a left shift of activation and an inactivation curve of Kv1.3 current and accelerated the activation and inactivation time constant. High extracellular [K(+)] attenuated the blockade effect of KT on Kv1.3 channels. In the presence of KT and KCl the activation and inactivation time constants were not influenced significantly no matter what was administered first. KT did not significantly inhibit Kv1.3 current induced by tetraethylammonium (TEA).

CONCLUSIONSKT is a weak blocker of Kv1.3 channels at different concentrations of extracellular potassium and binds to the intracellular side of the channel pore. The inhibitor KT of ion channels is not fully effective in clinical use because of high [K(+)](o) and other electrolyte disorders.

Animals ; Electrophysiology ; Female ; Ketanserin ; pharmacology ; Kv1.3 Potassium Channel ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Oocytes ; Patch-Clamp Techniques ; Potassium ; pharmacology ; Serotonin Antagonists ; pharmacology ; Xenopus laevis

To analyze the influence of external social capital on organizational performance of civil society organ-izations in HIV/AIDS prevention and control fields. Methods:Multi-variate stratified sampling and cluster sampling methods were used to investigate 212 civil society organizations in the field of AIDS prevention and control in eight prov-inces of China. The data were analyzed with the help of the multivariate logistic regression. Results:The findings showed that the shared vision,network will affect organizational institution performance(OR=3.23,95% CI,1.77-5.88),(OR=2.21,95% CI:1.21-4.02); Shared vision factors will affect the organization's performance of the organization's external social capital (OR=4.17,95% CI:2.23-7.78);Shared vision is closely relative to Shared vision and the organization's financial performance (OR=2.97,95% CI:1.60-5.51);Shared vision, network and support has positive correlation with organizational culture performance(OR=2.04,95% CI:1.09-3.85),(OR=2.02 ,95% CI:1.09 -3.76), (OR =3.34, 95% CI: 1.79 -6.23); Shared vision and the network will affect the organization's comprehensive performance (OR=14.56,95% CI:6.83-31.06), (OR=2.23,95% CI:1.11-4. 48). Conclusions:The external social capital of civil society organizations in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention and con-trol can affect organizational performance,and different organizations and the governments should develop the external social capital vigorously to improve organizational performance.

Adult ; Drug Contamination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Lead Poisoning ; etiology ; Male ; Phytotherapy

In the present study, we investigated the inhibitory action of ketanserin on wild-type (WT) and Y652 mutant human ether-a-go-go-related gene (HERG) potassium channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes and the effects of changing the channel molecular determinants characteristics on the blockade with and without ketanserin intervention using standard two-microelectrode voltage-clamp techniques. Point mutations were introduced into HERG gene (Y652A and Y652R) and subcloned into the pSP64 plasmid expression vector. Complementary RNAs for injection into oocytes were prepared with SP6 Cap-Scribe after linearization of the expression construct with EcoR I. Clampfit 9.2 software was employed for data collection and analysis. Origin 6.0 software was used to fit the data, calculate time constants and plot histograms. The results showed that ketanserin blocked WT HERG currents in voltage- and concentration-dependent manner and showed minimal tonic blockade of HERG current evaluated by the envelope of tails test. The IC50 value was (0.38+/-0.04) micromol/L for WT HERG potassium channel. The peaks of the I-V relationship for HERG channel suggested a negative shift in the voltage-dependence of activation after using ketanserin, whose midpoint of activation values (V1/2) were (-16.59+/-1.01) mV (control) vs (-20.59+/-0.87) mV (ketanserin) at 0.1 micromol/L, (-22.39+/-0.94) mV at 1 micromol/L, (-23.51+/-0.91) mV at 10 micromol/L, respectively (P<0.05, n=6). Characteristics of blockade were consistent with an open-state channel blockade, because the extent and rate of onset of blockade was voltage-dependent, increasing at more potentials even in the condition of leftward shift of activation curve. Meanwhile, in the different depolarization duration, the fractional blockade of end-pulse step current and peak tail current at 100 ms duration was significantly lower than that at 400 ms and 700 ms, which indicated that following the channel activation fractional blockade was enhanced by the activated channels. Ketanserin could also modulate the inactivation of HERG channel, which shifted the voltage-dependence of WT HERG channel inactivation curve from (-51.71+/-2.15) mV to (-80.76+/-14.98) mV (P<0.05, n=4). The S6 mutation, Y652A and Y652R, significantly attenuated the blockade by ketanserin. The IC50 value were (27.13+/-9.40) micromol/L and (20.20+/-2.80) micromol/L, respectively, increased by approximately 72-fold for Y652A and 53-fold for Y652R compared to that of WT HERG channel blockade [(0.38+/-0.04) micromol/L]. However, between the inhibitory effects of Y652A and Y652R, there was no significant difference. In conclusion, ketanserin blocks WT HERG currents in voltage- and concentration-dependent manner and preferentially blocks open-state HERG channels. Tyr-652 is one of the critical residues in the ketanserin-binding sites.
Animals ; Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Humans ; Ketanserin ; pharmacology ; Mutation ; Oocytes ; Patch-Clamp Techniques ; Potassium Channel Blockers ; pharmacology ; Xenopus

BACKGROUND: Sj?gren's syndrome (SS) is a chronic progressive autoimmune disease. The incidence of peripheral nervous system damage in patients with primary Sj?gren's syndrome (pSS) is 10%-30%. Previous studies have shown that there are multiple electrophysiological manifestations in patients with pSS presenting with peripheral neuropathy. However, there is no consensus on its neuroelectrophysiological manifestations. Peripheral neuropathy associated with pSS is easily confused with peripheral neuropathy caused by other etiologies. OBJECTIVE: To observe the neuroelectrophysiological manifestations of peripheral neuropathy associated with pSS to assist in the diagnosis of the disease. METHODS: A total of 100 pSS patients with peripheral neuropathy who receive treatment in the Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, in China will be included in this study. Fifty-two patients included in the preliminary experiment presented with peripheral neuropathy associated with pSS. The primary outcome measure is the rate of abnormal motor nerve conduction velocity. The secondary outcome measures include the rate of abnormal terminal motor latency, the rate of abnormal compound muscle action potential amplitude, the rate of sensory nerve conduction velocity, the rate of abnormal sensory nerve action potential amplitude, the rate of abnormal F wave, and the rate of abnormal sympathetic skin response. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Results of 52 patients included in the preliminary study showed that the rate of each electrophysiological index was similar between upper and lower extremities; the rate of abnormal motor nerve conduction velocity was significantly higher than the rate of abnormal compound muscle action potential amplitude; the rate of sensory nerve conduction velocity was significantly higher than the rate of abnormal sensory nerve action potential amplitude; the rate of abnormal motor nerve conduction velocity was similar to the rate of abnormal sensory nerve conduction velocity; the rate of abnormal compound muscle action potential amplitude was similar to the rate of abnormal sensory nerve action potential amplitude; the rate of abnormal wave was significantly lower than the rate of abnormal motor nerve conduction velocity; the rate of abnormal sympathetic skin response was similar to the rate of abnormal motor nerve conduction velocity. Results from this study will reveal neuroelectrophysiological abnormality in peripheral neuropathy associated with pSS, which will help diagnose the disease.