RBC, plasma and hair Mn levels have been measured in 38 children with Keshan disease from the Chuxiong district of Yunan province and were compared with that of 35 healthy children. After logarithmic, transformation, normal distribution of Mn levels of RBC, plasma and hair had been presented. The geometric means of the RBC, plasma and hair Mn content of the patients were 1.22?g/g(dry basis), 0.16?g/ml and 8.76?g/g respectively. In normal subjects, the means of RBC, plasma and hair Mn were found to be 0.59?g/g (dry basis), 0.13?g/ml and 2.57?g/g. The children with Keshan disease had higher Mn levels than controls. (P

Objective To investigate the detection rate of malnutrition among post-stroke patients in community hospitals and unravel the relevant factors that precipitate malnutrition after stroke. Methods Based on 438 post-stroke patients who were admitted in community hospitals, we examined the demographic characteristics, the nutritional indices and the possible malnutrition related factors through a cross-sectional study.Results The detection rate of malnutrition among post-stroke patients was 52.7%. Group comparison through multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that there was a higher malnutrition detection rate in the post-stroke patients with multiple stroke attacks (three stroke attackes and above, OR = 11.00,95%CI 1. 14-106.34), higher NIHSS scores (group with NIHSS≥15, OR=7.09, 95% CI 2.90-17.36) , higher modified Rankin scales (group mRS 4-5, OR = 15. 77,95% CI 6.61-37.59) (trend test P<0.0001) .The risk of malnutrition was also correlated with the post-stroke depression, poorer family care, no early-stage rehabilitation, history of malignant tumors and severe alcoholism. Conclusions There is a high detection rate of malnutrition among post-stroke patients in community hospitals. There are many factors related to malnutrition among post-stroke patients in the community. More attention to controllable influencing factors would improve the prognosis of post-stroke patients.

OBJECTIVETo explore the immune response of silicotic rats to sheep red blood cells(SRBC).

METHODSSilicotic rats were immunized with SRBC by tracheal instillation(Group 1) or intraperitoneal injection (Group 2), and non-silicotic rats were immunized by tracheal instillation as normal control(Group 3). The levels of serum hemolytic index(HC50) were measured on 7, 12, 20, 25, and 32 days after primary immunization and 5, 12, 15 days after the second immunization. Special anti-SRBC IgG was measured with ELISA(A490 nm) on 12, 20, 25, 32 days and 5, 12, 15, 27 days respectively. Delayed-type hypersensitivity(DTH) to SRBC was measured 20 days after second immunization and DTH reaction was determined at 24, 48, 72, and 96 h after administration. Total cell count and cell populations in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF), lung associated lymph node(LALN) and spleen weight, special IgG secreted from spleen cells were measured at the end of the experiment.

RESULTSThe HC50 of Group 1(47.4 +/- 1.0, 52.2 +/- 4.6, 31.1 +/- 11.9, 43.8 +/- 3.5, 33.6 +/- 16.8, 49.0 +/- 2.3, 92.9 +/- 20.2, 87.7 +/- 5.2) were statistically higher than those of Group 3(40.4 +/- 10.6, 2.8 +/- 2.5, 0.8 +/- 0.6, 6.6 +/- 5.8, 1.4 +/- 0.1, 36.5 +/- 16.5, 53.0 +/- 33.2, 2.6 +/- 2.2). The special anti-SRBC IgG response in Group 1(1.67 +/- 0.19, 1.98 +/- 0.36, 1.12 +/- 0.50, 1.38 +/- 0.30, 2.75 +/- 0.15, 2.60 +/- 0.28, 2.86 +/- 0.10, 2.50 +/- 0.20) were much stronger than those in Group 3 (0.59 +/- 0.30, 0.56 +/- 0.21, 0.21 +/- 0.16, 0.22 +/- 0.01, 0.81 +/- 0.25, 0.74 +/- 0.25, 0.69 +/- 0.26, 1.38 +/- 0.41). Furthermore, the results of DTH showed positive response and the ratios for diameter of skin rash > 5 mm at 24, 48, 72, 96 h were 16/16, 16/16, 16/16, 15/16 respectively in Group 1, while those in Group 3 were 8/15, 1/15, 1/15, 1/15 respectively. Total cell count in the BALF, LALN and spleen weight, and special IgG secreted from spleen cells in Group 1 were higher too. Group 2 expressed almost of the same but with mild immunologic responses as Group 1.

CONCLUSIONSilicosis-induced extremely strong DTH and over-response of humoral immunity to some antigens may contribute to the likelihood of silicosis complicated with tuberculosis.

Animals ; Erythrocytes ; immunology ; Hypersensitivity, Delayed ; etiology ; Immunization ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Rats ; Sheep ; Silicosis ; immunology