OBJECTIVETo study anti-atherosclerotic mechanisms of divided functional recipes of Dahuang Zhechong pill (DHZCP) in rabbits.

METHODThe atherosclerotic rabbit model was established by high fat feeding combined with immune endothelial injury. Male New Zealand rabbits were divided into 9 groups: normal control group, model control group, Danshen positive control group, and 6 DHZCP-divided groups including divided functional recipes No. 1, 2, 3 with low and high doses for each divided recipe. After intragastric administration for 60 days, blood lipids and serum MDA and NO levels and SOD activity and plasma ET concentration, and contents of hydroxyproline and proteins in the vascular wall were determined.

RESULTCompared with the model group, the level of blood lipids did not significantly change, serum MDA and ET levels, and the contents of hydroxyproline and proteins in the vascular wall significantly decreased (P < 0.05), and SOD activity and NO level increased in the divided functional recipes (all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe divided functional recipes of DHZCP can inhibit development of atherosclerosis via a non-lowering lipid mechanisms, including anti-peroxidation of lipids, protection of endothelial function, and decrease of formation of extracellular matrix by reducing synthesis of collage and protein on the vascular wall. Among them, the divided functional recipe No. 1 exhibits the most obvious effect.

Animals ; Aorta ; metabolism ; Atherosclerosis ; blood ; pathology ; prevention & control ; Cockroaches ; chemistry ; Drug Combinations ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Endothelins ; blood ; Hydroxyproline ; metabolism ; Lipids ; blood ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; blood ; Materia Medica ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Nitric Oxide ; blood ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rabbits ; Random Allocation ; Rheum ; chemistry ; Superoxide Dismutase ; blood

OBJECTIVETo investigate the epidemiological characteristus of human caliciviruses (HuCVs) among children under 5 years of age with acute diarrhea and to estimate the disease burden in Lulong county.

METHODSHuCVs were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Some PCR amplicons were cloned and sequenced. Phylogenetic tree was constructed for strain characterization. The rate of HuCVs-attributed hospitalization was estimated according to the positive rate of HuCVs detection in fecal specimens collected from hospitalized diarrhea patients.

RESULTSBetween July 1999 and June 2001, 708 fecal specimens were collected, of which 393 rotavirus-negative and 5 rotavirus-positive specimens were detected for HuCVs. Thirty-one point six percentage of fecal specimens from patients with diarrhea was HuCVs positive. Among inpatients, HuCVs positive rate was 17.5%. HuCVs detection was mainly distributed in 3 - 17 mouth-old children, in winter. All 11 strains belonged to NLV GII in which 6 strains GII-3, 2 strains GII-4 and 3 strains GII-7, and they shared 55.1% - 100% nucleotide identity. NLV GII-4 and GII-7 were identified in 2000, while NLV GII-3 and GII-7 in 2001. The preliminary estimate of HuCVs-attributed hospitalization rate was 3.6 per thousand.

CONCLUSIONHuman caliciviruses with different genotypes circulated among children in Lulong county with GII NLVs were the prevalent strains. The disease burden of HuCVs was second to rotavirus.

Acute Disease ; Age Factors ; Caliciviridae ; genetics ; immunology ; Caliciviridae Infections ; complications ; epidemiology ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Dysentery ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Infant ; Inpatients ; statistics & numerical data ; Phylogeny ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Seasons

OBJECTIVE: To investigate multilineage-differentiating stress-enduring (Muse) by immunomagnetic bead screening from Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stromal cells(WJ-MSCs), and explore transplantation of Muse cell for safety and effectivensess of sub acute cord injury in rats. METHODS: Donated Wharton's Jelly-mesenchymal stromal cells (WJ-MSCs) were successfully derived from a human umbilical cord by a series of procedures namely physical isolation of Wharton's Jelly from cord membrane, collagenase and trypsin treatment and density gradient centrifugation. Magnetic activated cell sorting was performed to specifically select SSEA3+ Muse cells, and flow cytometry and immunocytochemistry were used to identify further. In vivo, spinal cord contusion injury model in rats was induced by NYU-III impactor, and were randomly divided and equally into four groups, namely group A (sham), group B (control), group C (Non-Muse cells transplantation) and group D (Muse cells transplantation). Laminectomy was conducted in group A but no spinal cord contusion injury. Laminectomy and cord injury were performed in group B, C and D, 10 g trip rod was freely falling down from 12.5 mm. Two weeks later, group B, C and D were received PBS injection, Non-Muse cells transplantation and Muse cells transplantation respectively, four-point injection were performed in each cord with totally 4×10⁵ cells. BBB scores were evaluated on 1 day, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 week after injury. Four weeks after cell transplantation, the rats were sacrificed, and immunohistochemistry were carried out to observe survival, migration and differentiation of the injected cells. RESULTS: The expression of CD105, CD90 and CD73 were over 99.5% in the derived WJ-MSCs population, but CD45 and CD14 were lower than 0.5%, positive rate of SSEA3+ was 1.46% under flow cytometer, However, after MACS sorting, the percentage of 92.0% Muse cells expressed SSEA3 and CD105, and immunohistochemistry results of SSEA3 showed typically membrane morphology with special processes. In vivo, BBB scores was 21 in group A at different time points. One-way ANOVA and LSD analysis showed that BBB scores in group C and D were significantly higher than that in group B (=0.004, 0.002), but there was no significantly difference between group C and D. Further intra-group paired t test showed that BBB score was significantly higher at 4 weeks than that 3 weeks in group C (=0.005). However, in group D, BBB scores were significantly higher at 4 and 6 week than those at 3 and 5 weeks, values were 0.005 and 0.016 respectively. Immunohistochemistry results showed that both Muse cells and Non-Muse cells could survive for 4 weeks in rats and they migrated from the four-point injection to injury site. But there showed more Muse cells survival than Non-Muse cells in the cord. CONCLUSIONS Immunomagnetic bead screening is efficient to select large number of purified SSEA3+ Muse cells. Muse cells could survive and target-migrate in injured cord to improve BBB scores continuously. Muse cells are a novel kind of seed cells in the spinal cord injury treatment.
Alprostadil ; Animals ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stem Cells ; Rats ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; Umbilical Cord ; Wharton Jelly

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the methods of diagnosis and surgical treatment for nonfunctional islet cell tumor (NICT).

METHODSForty-four patients with non-functional islet cell tumor treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University during January 1968 to June 2008 were analyzed retrospectively. There were 9 males and 35 females, aged from 7- to 70-years-old. Clinical manifestation: 15 cases (34.1%) of abdominal masses, 17 patients (38.6%) with epigastric or back pain, 5 cases of jaundice, 5 cases (11.4%) for upper abdominal fullness or vomiting, 10 cases (22.7%) of pancreatic tumor noticed by routine health checkups or imaging examinations. Imaging examination: CT scan, sonography, ERCP, MRI, upper GI series were performed in 33 (75.0%), 16 (36.4%), 6 (13.6%), 2 (4.5%), and 10 cases (22.7%) respectively. Operation methods: 39 patients (88.6%) underwent surgical resection and the other 5 patients did not.

RESULTS

COMPLICATIONSpancreatic fistula in 7 patients (15.9%), intra-abdominal bleeding in 4 (9.1%), gastrojejunal anastomosis outlet obstruction in 1 (2.3%), biliary fistula in 2 (4.5%) and incisional infection in 3 (6.8%). Surgery related mortality happened in 2 patients (4.5%), both treated before 1999. Twenty-five patients underwent operation between January 1999 and June 2008 were followed up for 6 to 108 months. All survive except one died 75 months after the surgery for unknown reason.

CONCLUSIONSNo specific clinical manifestation is recognized for non-functional islet cell tumor. Spiral CT is an optimal diagnostic method, while surgery is the first choice for treatment. Middle segmental pancreatectomy has become an alternative surgical protocol for NICT.

Adenoma, Islet Cell ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pancreatectomy ; methods ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

Adolescent ; Busulfan ; therapeutic use ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cyclophosphamide ; therapeutic use ; Cyclosporine ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; methods ; Humans ; Infant ; Leukemia ; drug therapy ; mortality ; therapy ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; drug therapy ; mortality ; therapy ; Male ; Mycophenolic Acid ; therapeutic use ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; drug therapy ; mortality ; therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVE: To observe the safety of donor NK cell infusions in the settings of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and after consolidation chemotherapy in elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). METHODS: Forty patients with AML were included, in which 21 patients aged over 60 years were at the stage of complete remission (CR) and 19 patients that received allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Mononucleated cells were isolated from peripheral blood from the donors (for allo-HSCT) or healthy immediate family members (elderly AML). The cells were seeded into the flasks pre-coated with NK cell specific activators, and expanded in media containing recombinant human IL-15 and IL-2 for 14 days. The cells were transfused intravenously after the identification of quality control. Trypan blue exclusion test was used for the determination of cell viability and counting. Flow cytometry analysis was performed to assess the surface antigenic profile. Seventy-eight infusions of the cell products were received by the elderly patients with AML after consolidation chemotherapy, 11 infusions were received by the patients during allo-HSCT and 32 infusions 3 moths after transplantation. The safety of cell therapy, body temperature, blood pressure and other indexes were observe during and 48 hours after cell transfusion. Meanwhile, the occurrence and severity of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) were documented. RESULTS: Flow cytometry analysis showed that the proportion of NK cells (CD3^-CD56⁺) in the mononucleated cells before culture was (14.10±4.22)% (n=121), and the proportion increased dramatically up to (87.29±8.75)% (n=121) after culture for 14 days, the number of NK cells increased to 753.47±140.13 times (n=121). The doses of the infused NK cells was (7.58±2.50)×10⁷/kg per infusion. Moderate fever occurred in three cases after multiple infusions, and the temperature restored to normal on the same day after treatment. Fever was observed in one patient after every infusion of four times in total. The temperature reached to 38.5-39.0 ℃ and returned to normal within 1-2 hours after adequate antipyretic treatment, and then there was no discomfort. No GVHD was observed in the elderly AML patients, while 6 cases that received allo-HSCT developed moderate acute GVHD, among them grade I in 5 cases and grade II in 1 case. No other severe toxicities were observed. CONCLUSION NK cell products with a high-purity could be obtained by ex vivo expansion with this protocol. The transfusion of these expanded cells is generally safe in the elderly patients with AML that have received chemotherapy or patients that received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Aged ; Graft vs Host Disease/prevention & control* ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Humans ; Killer Cells, Natural ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/therapy* ; Middle Aged ; Recurrence

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the causes of perinatal death and related factors from the perspective of forensic medicine, and to provide references for reducing perinatal mortality and guidance for forensic identification. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on 102 cases of perinatal autopsy with clinical data from the Department of Forensic Medicine of Chongqing Medical University in 2004-2016. RESULTS: Of the 102 cases of perinatal deaths, 66 （64.71%） were neonatal deaths, 24 （23.53%） were stillborn foetuses, and 12 （11.76%） were stillbirths. Among the 66 neonatal death cases, 39 （59.09%） died within 1 d, 19 （28.79%） died within 1-3 d, and 8 （12.12%） died within >3-7 d of birth. The top 3 causes of neonatal death were pulmonary diseases, congenital malformation, umbilical cord and placental abnormalities. The causes of stillborn foetus and stillbirth were mainly umbilical cord and placental abnormalities, and intrauterine asphyxia. CONCLUSIONS Pulmonary diseases, umbilical cord and placental abnormalities, and congenital malformations are the main causes of perinatal death. In order to reduce the perinatal mortality, pre-pregnancy examination and prenatal care should be strengthened, and the knowledge of pregnancy care should be popularized.
Autopsy ; Cause of Death ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant Mortality ; Pregnancy ; Retrospective Studies ; Stillbirth