Objective To report the clinical characteristics of alien hand syndrome(AHS). Methods Eight AHS inpatients from July,2015 to July,2017 were reviewed from the etiology,clinical manifestations, imaging characteristics and outcome. Results The etiology of the patients was cerebrovascular disease. The clinical features included alien hand (8 cases), movement disorder(8 cases),cognitive disorder(5 cases),speech disorder(4 cases)and affective disorder(3 cas-es).Imaging indicated the lesions involved callosum(8 cases),frontal lobe(2 cases),parietal lobe(3 cases),tem-poral lobe(2 cases)and basal ganglial region(1 case).There were four cases healing,two improving,two of re-mission after medicine and rehabilitation. Conclusion ASH is mainly resulted from cerebrovascular disease, in which callosum and frontal lobe are mostly in-volved,features in different forms,and prognoses well.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the application value of preoperative ultrasound-guided drawing for locating thyroid micronodule in surgery.

METHODSA total of 88 patients (with 137 thyroid micronodules) who underwent thyroid surgery was included in the prospective study. Preoperative thyroid ultrasound was conducted in all patients. Select criteria: the maximum diameter of nodule ≤ 1 cm. All patients were randomly divided into two groups: 46 patients (68 micronoduls) in experimental group with ultrasound-guided drawing location of thyroid micronodule and 42 patients (69 micronoduls) in control group without ultrasound-guided drawing location of thyroid micronodule.

RESULTSAll thyroid micronodules of experimental group were found quickly and accurately in surgery, and 4 micronodules in 4 patients of control group were not found in surgery. US examinations 3 months after surgery showed that all micronodules in experimental group were completely removed and 4 micronodules in control group retained.

CONCLUSIONUltrasound-guided drawing is a useful technique for locating and searching accurately thyroid micronodule in surgery.

Humans ; Parathyroid Glands ; Prospective Studies ; Thyroid Nodule ; diagnostic imaging ; Ultrasonography

OBJECTIVETo elucidate the characters of rpoB mutation in rifampin-resistant clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

METHODS286 bp DNA fragment of rpoB gene including 81 bp code region (rifampin resistance deteremination region, RRDR) was analyzed by PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism(SSCP). The 286 bp DNA fragment of each strain which had been proved to have mutation by PCR-SSCP was then sequenced. 110 strains of M. tuberculosis, including 73 rifampin-resistant strains, 11 rifampin-susceptible drug-resistant strains and 26 drug-susceptible strains were studied.

RESULTS47 rifampin-resistant strains were detected to have mutations by PCR-SSCP method. 76.6% rifampin-resistant strains showed that rpoB gene was carrying single point mutation analyzed by direct sequencing technique, which mainly located at 531-Ser (61.1%) and 526-His (25.0%). The combined mutation rate was 23.4%. In addition, 2 rifampin-susceptible drug-resistant strains and 1 drug-susceptible strain were mutated, detected by PCR-SSCP method. Sequencing results showed that the mutations located at 511-Leu, 526-His and 535-Pro.

CONCLUSIONMutations in the 81 bp RRDR of rpoB were the main reasons of M. tuberculosis resistant to rifampin. 531-Ser and 526-His were the most common positions of mutations.

Antibiotics, Antitubercular ; pharmacology ; Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; drug effects ; genetics ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational ; Rifampin ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo identify the novel species 'Mycobacterium fukienense' sp. nov of Mycobacterium chelonae/abscessus complex from tuberculosis patients in Fujian Province, China.

METHODSFive of 27 clinical Mycobacterium isolates (Cls) were previously identified as M. chelonae/abscessus complex by sequencing the hsp65, rpoB, 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer region (its), recA and sodA house-keeping genes commonly used to describe the molecular characteristics of Mycobacterium. Clinical Mycobacterium isolates were classified according to the gene sequence using a clustering analysis program. Sequence similarity within clusters and diversity between clusters were analyzed.

RESULTSThe 5 isolates were identified with distinct sequences exhibiting 99.8% homology in the hsp65 gene. However, a complete lack of homology was observed among the sequences of the rpoB, 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer region (its), sodA, and recA genes as compared with the M. abscessus. Furthermore, no match for rpoB, sodA, and recA genes was identified among the published sequences.

CONCLUSIONThe novel species, Mycobacterium fukienense, is identified from tuberculosis patients in Fujian Province, China, which does not belong to any existing subspecies of M. chelonea/abscessus complex.

Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; China ; epidemiology ; Cluster Analysis ; DNA, Bacterial ; genetics ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mycobacterium ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; Mycobacterium chelonae ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Phylogeny ; Sequence Alignment ; Tuberculosis ; epidemiology ; microbiology