At the beginning of the 1980s, a concept of viable but non-culturable(VBNC) was suggested. VBNC is a survival strategy adopted by microorganisms when they are exposed to environmental stress. This article try to make a summary of research of the conditions of VBNC formation, recovery of culturability and methods of VBNC cells detection. In addition, introduces the first growth factor of microorganisms-Rpf.

Objective: To study the antipyretic action of Dipseudoephedrine Glycyrrhizin and its effect on heart rate and blood pressure of rats.Methods: The model of pyretic rabbit was established by diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus triple vaccine,and to observe the effect of Dipseudoephedrine Glycyrrhizin on temperature of rabbit. Two-path physiological recorder was used to measure heart rate and blood pressure.Results: The experiment proved that Dipseudoephedrine Glycyrrhizin can decrease the anus temperature of pyretic rabbit obviously.Dipseudoephedrine Glycyrrhizanate had no remarkably effect on heart rate and blood pressure.Conclusion: Dipseudoephedrine Glycyrrhizin has antipyretic action and has no effect on heart rate and blood pressure within studied dose.

Objective To study the clinical application of quantitative ultrasound(QUS) which evaluate skeletal status of children and adolescents.Methods Subjects were children and adolescents aged 0-18 years old.Tibia/radial bone strength was obtained using QUS.Children who were younger than 2 years old only were measured at midpiece of tibia,and children who were older than 2 years old were measu-red at midpiece of tibia and radius.At the same time,calcium in peripheral blood was measured by the method of atomic absorption.Results 1.Radial and tibial bone strength presented nonlinear growth with age in healthy children and adolescents.2.Bone strengths of different anatomic-sites were different and the disparity rate of evaluation at different anatomic sites was 30.1%.3.The bone strength of the children who had some risk factors that could induce decrease of bone strength or had some diseases of bone metabolism was lower than healthy children.Composition of low bone strength children was 71.1% in high risk children,and was 47.9% in those who had some symptom or physical sign of calcium deficiency.4.Composition of low bone strength children was 44.2% in those who had normal peripheral blood calcium,and composition of normal bone strength children in those who had low peripheral blood calcium was 59.7%.The 2 methods had no correlation.Conclusions QUS is a quite useful technique in evaluation skeletal status of children and adolescents,and is sensitive for high risk children.It is necessary to measure radius and tibia,and consider blood calcium and bone strength to evaluate practical level of calcium and nutritional state of children.

Adolescent ; Angiofibroma ; surgery ; Endoscopy ; Humans ; Male ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; surgery ; Nose ; surgery ; Otorhinolaryngologic Surgical Procedures ; methods

Objective To explore the mutation of androgen receptor(AR)gene in a patient with 46,XY disorder of sex development(DSD)and to improve the diagnostic level and understanding of androgen insensitivity syndrome(AIS).Methods The clinical data of the child was analyzed,including physical examination,relevant laboratory examination,karyotype,pelvic B ultrasound,pelvic magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)and AR gene mutation.The peripheral blood of the child and his parents were drawn,and peripheral blood DNA was extracted.The polymerase chain reaction(PCR)-DNA sequencing method was used to amplify all exons of the AR gene in the child and his parents.Then,they were directly sequenced.Results A 7-years and 2-months old child who suffered from DSD,revealed physical examination that the child had normal female external genitalia,as the clitoris length was 2.0 cm×0.8 cm,with visible vaginal opening,and there were masses at bilateral inguinal region,with a size of 1.5 cm×0.8 cm.The results of human chorionic gonadotropin(HCG)stimulation test:testosterone was 0 nmol/L,androstenedione was 1.78 nmol/L,dihydrotestosterone was 0.07 nmol/L before HCG was injected;but testosterone was 4.69 nmol/L,androstenedione was 2.10 nmol/L,dihydrotestosterone was 0.33 nmol/L after HCG was injection.Sex chromosome analysis reported 46,XY karyotype.Pelvic B ultrasound revealed the absence of a uterus and ovaries and the presence of bilateral testes like gonad at each side of internal inguinal ring,with a size of 1.4 cm×1.0 cm×0.8 cm in the left,1.5 cm×0.7 cm×0.8 cm in the right;but the kidney,ureter,urinary bladder,adrenal gland and retroperitoneal for B ultrasound revealed no abnormality.Pelvic MRI(non-enhanced and enhanced)showed the presence of a blind ending vagina between rectum and urinary bladder(40 mm in depth)and the absence of uterus and ovarian tissue.DNA sequencing found one c.1685T>C heterozygous mutation(p.Ile562Thr)on exon 2 of AR gene in the child.But retrieving and summarzing documents of the domestic and foreign information databases and websites,the locus mutation of AR gene had never been reported.The structure prediction of the mutated protein(Polyohen2 and SIFT software)was significantly changed.By verifying the locus site of the parents of this child,it was found that his mother carried the same mutation,but his father was found to be normal.Conclusions A c.1685 T>C mutation(p.Ile562Thr)on exon 2 of AR gene is a novel mutation.Combined with the patient's clinical manifestations and computer prediction results,it may suggest that the novel mutation of AR gene can lead to the occurrence of AIS.

The clinical prescriptions of hemoptysis that built by Menghe physician Ma Peizhi were collected, and were analyzed by the method of unsupervised data mining, such as association rules and clustering algorithm. From the prescriptions, we got the frequency of drugs, the association rules among drugs, 10 core drug combinations and 5 new prescriptions. Accordingly, after the analysis, Menghe physician Ma Peizhi had rich experience in the treatment of hemoptysis. His therapy for hemoptysis was clearing heat and moistening lung, dispel heat from blood to stop bleeding, and enriching yin and blood. And we can also make a conclusion that the TCM inheritance support system is of great practical value for minning the old doctors' clinical experiences.
Data Mining ; Databases, Factual ; Drug Prescriptions ; standards ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; therapeutic use ; Hemoptysis ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Practice Patterns, Physicians'

Objective: To explore the clinical efficacy of Chinese and western integrative medicine (TCM-WM) in treating repeatedly recurrent chronic pyelonephritis (CPN) and its therapeutic mechanism. Methods: Ninety-one repeatedly recurrent CPN patients were randomly divided into 2 groups, the control group (45 cases) treated with sufficient amount of sensitive antibiotics and other WM, the treated group (46 cases) treated with above-mentioned WM complemented with TCM syndrome differentiation (SD). Results: In the treated group completely cured was 14 cases (30.4%), markedly effective 14 cases (30.4%), the total effective rate was 91.3%; while that of the control group was 4 (8.9%), 5 (11.1%), and 48.9% respectively, (P<0.05) and (P<0.01); the mean days of urinary bacteria and urinary routine negative conversion were in the treated group 19.6±12.6 days and 24.3±11.5 days, obviously shorter than those of the control group (35.6±14.6 days and 53.6±16.4 days), P<0.01; the various symptoms of the treated group improved or disappeared in a short time, while in the control group a few patients improved in a longer period (P<0.01); the various immune parameters improved in the treated group, while in the control group only IgA was elevated to some extent (P<0.05), in comparing these data, the difference was significant (P<0.01). Conclusion: The TCM-WM integrative treatment could obviously raise the clinical efficacy, accelerate the symptom improvement, and enhance the immune function.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the efficacy of letrozole for delaying bone maturation and increasing predicted adult height in boys with idiopathic central precocious puberty (ICPP) who have a bone age above 13 years and a short stature, and its adverse effects.

METHODSTwenty ICPP boys with a bone age above 13 years and a short stature were randomly divided into letrozole treatment (n=10) and control groups (n=10). The letrozole treatment group received oral letrozole [2.5 mg/(m(2)·d), Qd] for 6 months, while the control group received no treatment and was observed periodically. Bone age, growth rate, height standard deviation (SD) score, predicted adult height SD score, sexual maturity, and levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), dehydroepiandrosterone, testosterone (T), estradiol (E2), progesterone (P), and androstenedione (ASD) were measured. The letrozole-related adverse reactions were evaluated.

RESULTSAfter 6 months of treatment, both groups had a significantly increased bone age, but the letrozole group had a significantly slowed increase in bone age compared with the control group (13.82 ± 0.23 years vs 14.47 ± 0.30 years; P<0.05); compared with the control group, the letrozole group had a significantly increased predicted adult height SD score (-1.69 ± 0.26 vs -1.91 ± 0.35; P<0.05) and a significantly increased T level (4.9 ± 0.9 nmol/L vs 4.4 ± 0.8 nmol/L; P<0.05). There was no significant difference in testicular volume between the two groups. The treatment led to no significant changes in growth rate, Tanner stage, and levels of FSH, LH, P, E2 and ASD in the two groups, and there was no significant difference in these indices between the two groups. No adverse reactions were observed during letrozole treatment.

CONCLUSIONSLetrozole delays bone maturation and increases predicted adult height in ICPP boys with a bone age above 13 years and a short stature, and it causes no obvious adverse reactions.

Adolescent ; Aromatase Inhibitors ; therapeutic use ; Body Height ; drug effects ; Bone Development ; drug effects ; Gonadal Steroid Hormones ; blood ; Humans ; Male ; Nitriles ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Puberty, Precocious ; blood ; drug therapy ; Testis ; drug effects ; pathology ; Triazoles ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use

Objective To establish a stable in vitro model of blood-brain barrier (BBB) simulating in vivo state using the primary-cultured rat brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMVECs) and pericytes.Methods The primary rat BMVECs and pericytes were isolated,purified and cultured.The isolated cells were identified by immunocytochemical staining method.An in vitro model of BBB was constructed using Transwell inserts (pore size 0.4 μm) coculture.Its barrier function was evaluated by the 4-hour leakage test,tight junction protein identification,transendothelial resistance detection,and permeability test.The difference between the cocultured model and simple BMVEC model across the membrane resistance values,and the permeability difference of the small molecule sodium fluorescein (Na-F) were compared.Results Confluent BMVEC monolayers demonstrated a typical cobblestone appearance and the pericytes displayed irregular shape and overlapping growth.Immunodouble labeling technique identification showed that the pericytes positively expressed α-srmooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and neuron-glial antigen 2 (NG2); after the fusion of cocultured model endothelial cells,the surface leakage test became positive; immnocytochemical staining shows that a continuous and dense tight junction formed between the endothelial cells; compared to the BMVEC model,the transendothelial electrical resistance of the cocultured model increased significantly (190.762 ± 10.326 Ω/cm2 vs.96.503 ± 8.012 Ω/cm2; t=- 24.489,P ＜0.01),and the permeability decreased significantly (56.149％ ± 3.572％ of the single endothelial model; t =19.330,P ＜ 0.01 ).Conclusions The primary isolated rat BMVECs and pericytes cocultured the morphology,structure and barrier function of in vitro model have the basic characteristics of BBB,and they have provided a useful tool for the research of BBB.

Glaucoma is a group of diseases which can threaten and damage the optic nerve and its visual pathway, leading to visual impairment as a result. Glaucomatous optic neuropathy is a chronic disease accompanied by apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells ( RGCs ) , visual field defect and cupping of optic nerve head. The gold standard in functional glaucoma evaluation is standard automated perimetry ( SAP) , but it is often limited to the subjective feelings of the patients. Still, visual electrophysiological techniques cannot replace the conventional inspection, but with its rapid development, it has provided a new strategy for the early diagnosis of glaucoma as a supplement because it can show changes in amplitude and latency before visual field defect. Here we review three special electroretinograms and multifocal focal visually evoked potentials in the early diagnosis of glaucoma.