Streptolysin S (SLS),one of the important virulence factors of Streptococcus,exist in several kinds of human and animal pathogenic bacterial,including Streptococcus pyogenes,Strepstococcus iniae and Streptococcus anginosus.SLS is a peptide toxin encoded by nine consecutive genes (sagA-sagⅠ).The functions of SLS include contributing pathogenic bacterium to pass through epithelial barrier,causing tissue damage,resisting to phagocytic clearance of host immune cells and interacting with other virulence factors.In addition,SLS as a signaling molecule of cell quorum sensing is involved in regulating the expression with other virulence factors.This paper summarized the structures and the biological functions of SLS in Streptococcus infection.

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of Qufeng Qingre Weiling Decoction combined with the decreasing amount of loratadine in treatment of chronic urticaria (CU). Methods Totally 108 CU patients were randomly divided into treatment group and control group, 54 cases in each group. The treatment group was given Qufeng Qingre Weiling Decoction combined with the decreasing amount of loratadine (10 mg, 1 time per day) according to symptom controlling situation, and control group with the decreasing amount of loratadine only. Both groups were treated for 4 treatment courses (2 weeks as a treatment course). Symptom score reduce index was used to calculate the effective rate after 8 weeks of treatment. And the taking antihistamine medicine score was recorded 4, 6, 8 weeks of treatment. The follow-up visits were made to observe long-term efficacy of the cured patients 1 month, 3 months and 6 months after discontinuing the medication. Results Totally 27 cases from the treatment group were cured, with a total short-term effective rate of 96.30%;13 cases from the control group were cured, with a total short-term effective rate of 65.38%, with statistical significance (P<0.05). The taking antihistamine medicine score in treatment group (0.553 ± 0.239) was lower than that in control group (0.721 ± 0.245), namely the symptom improvement in treatment group was better than that in control group by taking less antihistamine medicine. Long-term clinical efficacy showed that the treatment group was also distinctively better than the control group. Conclusion Qufeng Qingre Weiling Decoction combined with the decreasing amount of loratadine is more effective for CU, and with better short-term and long-term clinical efficacy than the control group.

Diving ; Humans ; Otitis Externa ; prevention & control

Head and Neck Neoplasms ; pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neurilemmoma ; pathology ; Neurofibroma ; pathology ; Scalp ; pathology

ObjectiveTo evaluation application of MSCTA technology in pre-and pro-liver transplantation.MethodsThirty - two patients with liver transplantation were performed with multi-phase CT scanning (MSCT).In hepatic artery and portal phase vascular 3D imaging reconstruction methods include multiple planar reconstruction ( MPR),maximum intensity projection ( MIP),volume rendering (VR).MIP images were measured with these parameters (CA,LGA,CHA,PHA,PV,SV,SMV in diameter).ResultsHepatic arterial vascular imaging scan can show clearly within the scope of the abdominal aorta,gastroduodenal artery,hepatic artery,the left hepatic,celiac trunk,and its branches.Portal vascular imaging clearly showed that the portal vein system.MIP can use accurate measurement of vascular diameter abdominal aorta and portal,superior mesenteric vein,and splenic vein diameter.Control group with liver cirrhosis and liver cancer artery diameter had no significant difference in patients with portal hypertension and the portal vein [ ( 16.7 ± 2.4 ) mm ],mesenteric vein [ ( 10.8 ± 2.1 ) mm ],and splenic vein diameter [(13.1±1.9)mm] compared to the control group[(13.8 ±1.6)mm,(8.2 ±1.7)mm,(8.9±1.1)mm ],the difference was statistically significant ( P ＜ 0.05 ). Conclusions MSCTA can show the liver artery and portal vein system of the non-invasive method of checking,Joint MIP and VR application can provide more clinical liver transplant before the hepatic artery and portal vein of information,liver transplantation arteriovenous anastomoses provides for the monitoring of vascular diameter.

Objective To optimize the synthesis process of iloperidone 1 for industrial production.Methods Piperi-dine-4-carboxylic acid, acetic acid and acetic anhydride were used as starting materials to generate 2 via amidation, Friedel-Crafts acylation, hydration, oximation, intramolecular cyclization and salification.Compound 2 was treated with 4-(3-chloropropoxy)-3-methoxyphenylethanone through condensation to afford iloperidone.The target compound 1 was prepared with an overall yield of 34.9%.Results and Conclusion Such factors as the ratio of the raw materials, the catalyst, reactive time were investigated and optimized to make the reaction conditions mild and easy to control with less side effects.The structure has been confirmed by IR, 1 H-NMR and MS.

Objective To preliminarily evaluate the efficacy and safety of chemotherapy on hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis(HLH) with hepatic dysfunction in children.Methods The children diagnosed as non-malignancy-associated HLH from Mar.2004 to Apr.2008 were selected,and the therapeutic effect was evaluated according to the HLH-04 protocol at the 8th week of chemotherapy,and the level of serum alanine aminotransferase(ALT),serum albumin(Alb) and plasma fibrinogen(Fib) were detected at pretherapy,2 weeks and 8 weeks of post-treatment.Results Altogether 60 HLH children complicated with hepatic dysfunction before chemotherapy,47 children had increased ALT,58 children had decreased Alb,and 38 children had decreased Fib.Forty-two cases(70%) were virus-associated HLH,1 case(1.7%) was fungi-associated HLH,and 17 cases(28.3%) had unknown origin.Among the 60 children,55 cases showed improvement in the 4 weeks of inductive treatment,15 cases gave up therapy,45 cases completed the 8 weeks of inductive treatment according to the protocol(among these children,42 cases had no active disease,3 cases had active disease),and these 45 children had obviously improved ALT,Alb and Fib at 2 weeks and 8 weeks of post-treatment,compared with pretherapy,the differences had statistical significance(Pa

OBJECTIVETo explore effect of curcumin in different concentrations on learning and memory of senescence-accelerated mice (SAM) and their possible mechanisms.

METHODSMice were randomly divided into six groups: the SAMR1 normal control group, the SAMP8 model control group, the SAMP8 + solvent (the peanut oil) control group, SAMP8 + low, middle and high dose curcumin groups. Mice were gastrogavage for 25 successive days. On the next day of ending the experiment, changes of learning and memory in mice of each group were observed by Morris water maze. The hippocampal [Ca2+] was determined. Expressions of hippocampal calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMK II) and Calmodulin (CaM) mRNA were detected using Western blot and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) respectively.

RESULTSThe latency to find the hidden platform was remarkably prolonged, the hippocampal [Ca2+]i was markedly increased, the expression of CaMK II in the hippocampal membrane and the level of hippocampal CaM mRNA were significantly reduced in the SAMP8-model control group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The latency to find the hidden platform was remarkably shortened in the SAMP8 + middle dose curcumin and the SAMP8 + high dose curcumin groups (P < 0.01). The hippocampal [Ca2+]i was markedly lowered, the expression of CaMK II in the hippocampal membrane and the level of hippocampal CaM mRNA obviously increased in the SAMP8 + low, middle and high dose curcumin groups (P < 0.05, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONCurcumin could improve learning and memory Ca2+/capacities of SAM by lowering hippocampal [Ca2+] overload, increase the hippocampal CaM mRNA level and CaMK II expression in the hippocampal dose-dependently.

Aging ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Animals ; Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2 ; metabolism ; Calmodulin ; metabolism ; Curcumin ; pharmacology ; Hippocampus ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Maze Learning ; drug effects ; Memory ; drug effects ; Mice ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics

Acupuncture has remarkable effects of pain relieving and functional restoration on injuries of soft tissue and joint due to military training. As more and more attention has been attached to the impact of psychological states and biorhythm disorder on the fighting ability of military staff, acupuncture has found its place in treating chronic fatigue, combat stress reaction, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder as well as regulating circadian rhythms. The therapeutic effect of acupuncture in military training-related physical damage and psychological trauma has already been proved by numerous clinical practices and researches. It is held that using acupuncture as an alternative could not only save medical resources, but also enhance the fighting ability of the army. However, the current clinical studies is facing the problem of limited sample size. Therefore, randomized controlled trials in large scale and multiple centers should be further carried out toward military staff, so as to provide more speaking evidences to the prevention and treatment of physical and psychological diseases.
Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Military Personnel ; psychology ; Pain Management ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; therapy ; Wounds and Injuries ; therapy ; Young Adult

Objective To quantitatively analyze the histological and MR images of repaired tissue (RT) following microfracture for knee joint osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) in rabbit models at different time points,make comparisons with the RT performances of joint debribement,explore the efficiency of the microfracture treatment for OCD.Methods Twenty-seven New Zealand rabbits were randomly assigned into 3 groups (sacrificed at the end of 3,5 and 7 weeks post-operation respectively),with 9 in each group.For each rabbit,one knee joint was made into an OCD model.In each group,6 were for microfracture treatment,and the other 3 were for joint debridement as control.MR scan,which mainly included sequences of 3D double echo steady state sequence (3D-DESS) and T2-mapping,was taken at 3,5 and 7 weeks postoperation.The thickness index and T2 value index of RT were calculated and T2-mapping of repaired region was drafted.Then the operation sites were removed to make histological sections of HE and Masson staining.The modified O' Driscoll score system was employed to make semi-quantitative evaluation for the histological performance of RT.Comparisons were made with respect to MR and histological findings between two treatments at each time point using unpaired Student t test.Effects of two treatments were evaluated longitudinally by comparing the results of three time points using one-way ANOVA.Results The post-operation thickness indexes of two groups increased gradually (F =33.940,28.841,P ＜ 0.05),T2 value indexes decreased (F =80.183,206.206,P ＜ 0.05),and O'driscoll scores increased gradually (F =29.867,17.167,P ＜ 0.05).At each time point,the thickness index of microfracture was higher than that of debridement group(3-week:0.743 ±0.048 vs 0.624 ±0.013,t =4.077 ;5-week:0.813 ±0.031 vs 0.734 ±0.015,t =4.107 ; 7-week: 0.972 ± 0.064 vs 0.777 ± 0.039,t =4.782 ; P ＜ 0.05),and the defects of microfracture in 7-week group were almost fully recovered while the defects of the debridement in 7-week group were not.The T2 value index of microfracture group was lower than that of debridement group at 3-week point(1.338 ±0.043 vs 1.510 ± 0.009,t =6.583,P ＜ 0.05),but it was higher than that of debridement group at 5-week and 7-week points (5-week: 1.284 ± 0.097 vs 1.116 ± 0.068,t =2.663 ; 7-week: 0.916 ± 0.036 vs 0.843 ± 0.016,t =3.283 ; P ＜ 0.05).The O'Driscoll score of microfracture group was higher than that of joint debridement at every time point(3-week:7.167 ±0.753 vs 4.667 ±0.577,t =5.000;5-week: 9.833 ± 1.169 vs 7.667 ± 0.577,t =2.960 ; 7-week: 11.167 ± 0.753 vs 8.333 ± 1.155,t =4.520 ; P ＜ 0.05).For microfracture group,the RT was mainly repaired by fibrocartilage and got matured gradually with more production of well-distributed collagen fibrils ; while for joint debridement group,the RT was mainly repaired by fibrous and scar tissue.Conclusions The post-operation repairing thickness and tissue composition of microfracture for OCD are superior to that of joint debridement.MR 3D-DESS and T2-mapping can show the thickness and tissue composition of the RT after OCD treatments,provide effective evaluation of repairing conditions,and they are of great importance on the OCD post-op follow-up.