Brown-Sequard Syndrome ; etiology ; Cervical Vertebrae ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; complications ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged

Aorta, Thoracic ; pathology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; diagnosis ; mortality ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Vascular Malformations ; diagnosis ; mortality

OBJECTIVE: To investigate and analyze the occurrence of 64,101 perinatal birth defects from 2000 to 2004, to determine the tendency of the incidence rate of birth defects and perinatal mortality, and to explore feasible and effective intervention strategy. METHODS: We investigated 64,101 perinatal infants who were born in 13 hospitals in Changsha from January 2000 to December 2004. The incidence rate of all birth defects, mortality of perinatal infants, the incidence rate of various kinds of birth defects, and the component rate of birth defects were analyzed. RESULTS: Altogether 1,050 neonate birth defects were found, with the incidence rate of 1.638%. The incidence rate of birth defects was increasing year-by-year in 2000 compared with that in 2002, 2003 and 2004, with significant differences (all P values<0.05): the incidence rate of birth defects in 2001 compared with that in 2002, 2003 and 2004, also with significant differences (P<0.05). Eight hundred seventy nine perinatal infants died, and the mortality was 1.371%. The mortality perinatal of infants increased in 2001 compared with that in 2002 and in 2003, with significant differences (P<0.05). The top 5 birth defects with the highest incidence were congenital heart disease, polydactly, auricle malformation, cheiloschisis, and palatoschisis, congenital hydrocephal in turn. The incidences of congenital heart disease and hydrocephal increased significantly. One hundred seventy seven fetuses were performed induced labor because of fetal defects from 2003. CONCLUSION We must pay attention to the increasing tendency of birth defect incidence and perinatal mortality. Strengthening environmental protection and antenatal care can decrease the birth defect incidence. Performing antenatal examination and neonatal screening regularly can discover the birth defects in time. When severe birth defects occur, the induced labor should be performed.
China ; epidemiology ; Congenital Abnormalities ; mortality ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant Mortality ; trends ; Infant, Newborn ; Perinatal Mortality ; trends ; Pregnancy

Targeted therapeutic drugs for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are showing immense development, thereby laying a solid foundation for the precise treatment of AML patients. The paper reviews four types of targeted drugs that have progressed rapidly for AML treatment (by targeting genes or signaling-pathway alterations, targeting apoptosis-related pathways, targeting cell-surface antigens, and targeting immune-related substances). We look forward to the future development directions of targeted drugs, providing references for hematologists and developers of new drugs for AML.

BACKGROUNDIntratracheal instillation of blood induces self-repaired acute lung injury. However, the mechanism of repair has been unclear. Heme-oxygenase (HO)-1, which catalyzes heme breakdown, acts as an inducible defense against oxidative stress and plays an important role in inflammation. The objective of this study was to test the role of HO-1 in lung injury caused by intratracheal instillation of red cells.

METHODSForty healthy, male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups: normal group, saline group, erythrocyte group, erythrocyte+zinc-protoporphyrin (ZnPP, HO-1 inhibitor) group and saline+ZnPP group. At 2 days after intratracheal instillation of red cells, lung tissues and lavage samples were isolated for biochemical determinations and histological measurements.

RESULTSHistological analysis revealed that administration of ZnPP worsened the acute lung injury induced by instilled erythrocytes. HO-1 was over-expressed in the erythrocyte group and in the erythrocyte + ZnPP group. Compared with the erythrocyte + ZnPP group, the levels of total protein, lactate dehydrogenase and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the lavage were lower (P < 0.01), while the level of interleukin-10 was higher in the erythrocyte group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONHO-1 protects against erythrocyte-induced inflammatory injury in lung.

Animals ; Erythrocytes ; physiology ; Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing) ; analysis ; physiology ; Interleukin-10 ; analysis ; Lung ; pathology ; Lung Injury ; prevention & control ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; analysis

A GeXP based multiplex PCR assay was developed to simultaneously detect six different chicken respiratory viruses including H5, H7, H9 subtypes of avian influenza virus(AIV), new castle disease virus (NDV), infectious bronchitis virus(IBV) and infectious laryngotracheitis virus(ILTV). According to the conserved sequences of genes of each pathogen, seven pairs of specific primers were designed, and the reaction conditions were optimized. The specificity and accuracy of GeXP were examined using samples of single and mixed infections of virus. The sensitivity was evaluated by performing the assay on serial 10-fold dilutions of cloned plasmids. To further evaluate the reliability, thirty-four clinical samples were detected by GeXP. The corresponding specific fragments of genes were amplified. The detection limit of GeXP was 10(2) copies/microL when all of 7 pre-mixed plasmids containing target genes of six chicken respiratory viruses were present. In the detection of thirty-four clinical samples, the results of GeXP were accorded with the viral isolation completely. In conclusion, this GeXP assay is a rapid, specific, sensitive and high-throughput method for the detection of chicken respiratory virus infections. It can be applied in rapid differential diagnosis for clinical samples, and also provide an effective tool to prevent and control chicken respiratory diseases with similar clinical symptoms.
Animals ; Chickens ; Influenza A virus ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; physiology ; Influenza in Birds ; diagnosis ; virology ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Poultry Diseases ; diagnosis ; virology ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; diagnosis ; veterinary ; virology

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects and the molecular mechanism of puerariae radix flavones (PRF) on acute myeloid leukemia cell line Kasumi-1 cells in vitro.

METHODSKasumi-1 cells treated by PRF for 48 hours were observed with Wright's and Hoechst 33258 dying. The apoptotic cells were analyzed by flow cytometry with AnnexinV/PI staining. The expression levels of bcl-2, Bim and Caspase-3/-8/-9 protein were assayed by Western blot and the AML1-ETO fusion gene was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTSPRF could induce Kasumi-1 cells to apoptosis effectively. The proportion of apoptotic cells in 50, 200 and 500 µg/ml PRF treatment groups were (14.1 ± 0.8)%, (17.7 ± 1.3)% and (32.4 ± 1.4)%, respectively, and significantly higher than that of control \[(7.8 ± 0.7)%\]. The relative expression levels of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein were 0.85 ± 0.05, 0.62 ± 0.07 and 0.43 ± 0.05; the apoptotic Bim protein were 0.21 ± 0.06, 0.39 ± 0.04 and 0.75 ± 0.05; the caspase-3 and caspase-9 were 0.92 ± 0.04, 1.21 ± 0.07, 1.33 ± 0.04 and 0.35 ± 0.05, 0.53 ± 0.03, 0.69 ± 0.07, respectively. Compared to the blank control group, all these changes were significant (P < 0.01). Nevertheless, nearly no changes could be observed on the expression level of AML1-ETO fusion gene and caspase-8 protein.

CONCLUSIONApoptosis of Kasumi-1 cells induced by PRF might correlate to the down-regulation of Bcl-2 protein expression and the activation of caspase-3 and caspase-8 protein in the cells. It seemed that all these effects had no relationship with the AML1-ETO fusion gene.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Caspase 8 ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Core Binding Factor Alpha 2 Subunit ; genetics ; metabolism ; Flavones ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion ; genetics ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Pueraria ; RUNX1 Translocation Partner 1 Protein

BACKGROUNDContrast-enhanced ultrasound is a dynamic and continuous modality providing real-time view of vascularization and flow distribution patterns of different organs and tumors. In order to evaluate the diagnostic significance of intraoperative contrast-enhanced ultrasound in assessing the resection degree of brain glioma by transmission electron microscopic (TEM) examination, it is important to have specific knowledge about contrast-enhanced ultrasound. Methods : Ultrasound contrast was applied in operations of 120 cases of brain glioma, to evaluate the degree of tumor resection. Biopsy tissues were obtained the suspicious residual tumors surrounding the tumor cavity. The sensitivity and specificity of the residual tumors were determined by the intraoperative ultrasound contrast according to TEM examination results.

RESULTSThere were 44 cases of low-grade gliomas and 76 cases of high-grade gliomas. Three hundred and sixty biopsy tissues were obtained. The sensitivity of intraoperative ultrasound contrast in diagnosing the residual tumor was 62.2%, while the specificity degree of it was 92.8%. The consistency coefficient of the ultrasound contrast diagnosis and TEM examination results was 0.584 (Kappa = 0.584), which was between 0.4 and 0.6, therefore it was of medium consistency. Conclusions : Intraoperative ultrasound contrast was of a high sensitivity and specificity in evaluating the excision degree of tumor. The consistency of the residual tumor rate detected, respectively, by ultrasound contrast and TEM examination was of medium consistency. The application of intraoperative ultrasound contrast can improve the resection rate of brain glioma.

Adult ; Aged ; Contrast Media ; Female ; Glioma ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; ultrastructure ; Humans ; Male ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission ; Middle Aged ; Ultrasonography ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo analyze the correlation of Chinese medicine syndrome evolvement and cardiovascular: events in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD).

METHODSThis prospective cohort study investigated and: collected the clinical information of patients with stable CHD and observed the syndrome type at the baseline and 6-month at follow-up, as well as the cardiovascular events during the 6-month and 12-month follow-up. The patients were divided into the event group and the non-event group. The interaction and the impact of syndrome evolvement on cardiovascular events were examined through multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) analysis and the results were verified by Chi-square test.

RESULTSTotally 1,333 of 1,503 stable CHD patients enrolled met the inclusion criteria: of MDR analysis. Among them, 959 (71.9%) cases were males and 374 (28.1%) cases were females. Thirty seven cases had cardiovascular events during 6 to 12 months after the study began. The results of the MDR analysis and verification using Chi-square test showed that the development of cardiovascular events was positively correlated with interaction between blood stasis and toxic syndrome at the baseline, blood stasis at the baseline and qi deficiency at the 6-month follow-up, toxic syndrome at the baseline and qi deficiency at the 6-month follow-up, toxic syndrome at the base line and blood stasis at the 6-month follow-up, qi deficiency and blood stasis at the 6-month follow-up (P<0.05 for all).

CONCLUSIONSBlood stasis, toxic syndrome and qi deficiency are important factors of stable CHD. There: are positive correlation between cardiovascular events and syndrome evolution from blood stasis to qi deficiency, from toxic syndrome to qi deficiency and from toxic syndrome to blood stasis, indicating the pathogenesis of toxin consuming qi, toxin leading to blood-stasis in stable CHD patients prone to recurrent cardiovascular events.

Aged ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; etiology ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Disease ; complications ; physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction ; Syndrome