BACKGROUNDRecent studies have indicated that chronic stress may give rise to brain damage, which is related to the genesis of depression. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of extract of Ginkgo biloba (EGb) and venlafaxine on depression.

METHODSRats were treated with chronic and comprehensive stress to create a depression model. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampal CA3 neurons of rats treated with different drugs. Behavioral changes of these rats were also examined.

RESULTSThe expression of BDNF in the hippocampal CA3 neurons of the depression model decreased with a reduction in exploring behavior and a significant increase in fecal production. The expression of neuron nitric-oxide synthase (nNOS) protein also increased in the rats compared to normal controls. The rats treated with EGb and venlafaxine showed an increase in expression of BDNF and exploring behavior compared to untreated rats, but a decrease in nNOS and fecal production.

CONCLUSIONSRats sustain damage to the brain after being subjected to chronic and comprehensive stress. Our research has indicated that combined EGb with venlafaxine enhances the protection of neurons and decreases damage to the brain, while relieving the side effects of synthetic antidepressants.

Animals ; Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation ; administration & dosage ; Brain Injuries ; complications ; metabolism ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; biosynthesis ; Cyclohexanols ; administration & dosage ; Depression ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Ginkgo biloba ; chemistry ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Male ; Phytotherapy ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Venlafaxine Hydrochloride

BACKGROUNDSuccessful treatment of gliomas in or adjacent to language areas constitutes a major challenge to neurosurgery. The present study was performed to evaluate the procedure of language mapping via intraoperative direct cortical electrical stimulation under awake anaesthesia when performed prior to resective glioma surgery.

METHODSThirty patients with gliomas and left-hemisphere dominance and, who underwent language mapping via intraoperative direct cortical electrical stimulation under awake anaesthesia before resective glioma surgery, were analyzed retrospectively. All patients had tumors in or adjacent to cortical language areas. The brain lesions were removed according to anatomic-functional boundaries with preservation of areas of language function. Both preoperative and postoperative functional findings were evaluated.

RESULTSIntraoperative language areas were detected in 20 patients but not in four patients. Language mapping failure for reasons attributable to the anaesthesia or to an intraoperative increase in intracranial pressure occurred in six cases. Seven patients presented with moderate or severe language deficits after six months of follow-up. Total resection was achieved in 14 cases, near-total resection in 12 cases and subtotal resection in four cases.

CONCLUSIONSIntraoperative cortical electrical stimulation is an accurate and safe approach to identification of the language cortex. Awake craniotomy intraoperative cortical electrical stimulation, in combination with presurgical neurological functional imaging to identify the anatomic-functional boundaries of tumor resection, permits extensive tumor excision while preserving normal language function and minimizing the risk of postoperative language deficits.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Brain Mapping ; Brain Neoplasms ; surgery ; Cerebrum ; surgery ; Female ; Glioma ; surgery ; Humans ; Language ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neurosurgical Procedures ; methods ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo discuss the early diagnostic methods and therapeutic principles of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), and evaluate the therapeutic efficacy objectively.

METHODSUsing neuro-imaging examinations combined with case history and clinical symptoms to make the early diagnosis of 96 case with aneurysmal SAH, and Guglielmi detachable microcoil (GDC) was utilized for early intracapsular embolization in the ruptured aneurysms. Efficient symptomatic treatment was done early after operation.

RESULTSAll of 96 cases were early diagnosed and successfully embolized; Among them, the aneurysmal lumen was 100% occluded in 83 cases, 95% in 8 cases, 90% in 5 cases. There were 3 cases complicating with aneurysms rupture during operation, 5 cases with cerebral vasospasm. One case was affected by microcoil terminal escape after operation, 3 recurrent cases were all cured with secondary GDC embolization. There were 9 complications associated with embolization techniques and 13 cases (13.5%) occurring permanent sequelae associated with SAH. According to the Glasgow prognosis score, 77 patients got grade I, 7 grade II, 6 grade III, 3 grade IV, and 3 grade V. The mortality rate was 3.1%.

CONCLUSIONSTo make early etiological diagnosis of the SAH patients, using GDC to embolize the aneurysms, and earlier efficient symptomatic treatment are important methods to improve the curative rate and reduce the mortality rate.

Adult ; Aged ; Aneurysm, Ruptured ; complications ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Angiography ; methods ; Early Diagnosis ; Embolization, Therapeutic ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intracranial Aneurysm ; complications ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ; diagnosis ; etiology ; therapy ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo identify the gene mutations in a pedigree with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia.

METHODSGenomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood of the propositus. All of the exons, intron/exon boundaries and the 5' untranslation regions (UTR) of the ALK-1 and endoglin gene were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR products were screened by direct sequencing.

RESULTSThe mutation is a C1437T substitution in exon 10 of the ALK-1 gene, resulting in Arg 479 Stop.

CONCLUSIONThe hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia propositus is caused by a heterozygous Arg 479 Stop mutation in the ALK-1 gene which has not been identified previously.

Activin Receptors, Type II ; genetics ; Aged ; Antigens, CD ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; Codon, Nonsense ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Exons ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Pedigree ; Point Mutation ; Receptors, Cell Surface ; genetics ; Telangiectasia, Hereditary Hemorrhagic ; genetics ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo compare the molecular characteristics of 3 Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever viruses(CCHFV) isolated in Xinjiang province.

METHODSYL05035, YT05099 and LT05146 were isolated in 2005 from Hyalomma ticks and viral RNA was extracted from suckling mouse brains infected with these three strains respectively. The polymerase chain reaction(PCR) products of S segments from the 3 strains of CCHFV were directly sequenced.

RESULTSThe full-length'S RNA from the 3 strains of CCHFV all comprised 1673 nucleotides with ORF of them including 1449 nucleotides and encoding a protein which comprised 482 amino acids in a viral complementary sense. The sequences indicated that the three strains of CCHFV isolated from ticks in Xinjiang province were highly homologenic. Data from the phylogenetic analysis showed that the obtained sequences were identical. The homology between 3 strains of CCHFV was 99.5%. Their homologies compared with that of the other strains isolated from other region of Xinjiang were also high at nucleotide levels (92.7%-99.8%). The three strains which were clustered together with 7001 strain and 79121 strain (isolated from patient and rat in Xinjiang respectively) was only different by 2%-3%. The genetic difference from the prototype CCHFV Nigerian strain IBAR10200 was 13%. In comparison, the Nigerian CCHFV tick isolate was more divergent when compared with the reference China strains 66019 and with the three variants mentioned above.

CONCLUSIONThe CCHFV isolated from China comprised a group of genetically high conserved strains.

Animals ; Brain ; virology ; China ; Genes, Viral ; Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Mice ; RNA, Viral ; analysis

We assessed the role of diabetes mellitus (DM) on treatment effects in drug-susceptible initial pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients. A prospective study was conducted in eight provinces of China from October 2008 to December 2010. We enrolled 1,313 confirmed drug-susceptible initial PTB patients, and all subjects received the treatment regimen (2H3R3E3Z3/4H3R3) as recommended by the national guidelines. Of the 1,313 PTB patients, 157 (11.9%) had DM; these patients had more sputum smear-positive rates at the end of the second month [adjusted odds ratios (aOR) 2.829, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.783-4.490], and higher treatment failure (aOR 2.120, 95% CI 1.565-3.477) and death rates (aOR 1.536, 95% CI 1.011-2.628). DM was a contributing factor for culture-positive rates at the end of the second month and treatment failure and death of PTB patients, thus playing an unfavorable role in treatment effects of PTB.
Antitubercular Agents ; therapeutic use ; China ; epidemiology ; Diabetes Mellitus ; epidemiology ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; drug effects ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; complications ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; microbiology

The objective of this prospective study of the risks of treatment failure in patients with drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) was to provide reference data to help develop a disease control strategy. Participants were recruited in eight provinces of China from October 2008 to December 2010. A total of 1447 patients with drug-susceptible PTB and older than 15 years of age were enrolled. Demographic characteristics, bacteriological test results, and patient outcome, i.e., cure or treatment failure were recorded and compared using the chi-square or Fisher's exact tests. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with risk of treatment failure. Of the 1447 patients who were enrolled, 1349 patients (93.2%) were successfully treated and 98 (6.8%) failed treatment. Failure was significantly associated with age 365 years [odds ratio (OR)=2.522, 95% confidence interval (CI): (1.097-5.801)], retreatment [OR=2.365, 95% CI: (1.276-4.381)], missed medicine [OR=1.836, 95% CI: (1.020-3.306)], treatment not observed [OR=1.879 95% CI: (1.105-3.195)], and positive culture result after the first [OR=1.971, 95% CI: (1.080-3.597)] and second month [OR=4.659, 95% CI: (2.590-8.382)]. The risk factors associated with treatment failure were age 365 years, retreatment, missed medication, treatment not observed, and positive culture at the end of month 1 or month 2. These risk factors should be monitored during treatment and interventions carried out to reduce or prevent treatment failure and optimize treatment success.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antitubercular Agents ; therapeutic use ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; drug effects ; physiology ; Prospective Studies ; Retreatment ; Risk Factors ; Treatment Failure ; Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; Young Adult