Objective To evaluate the left ventricular rotation and twist in the cardiac allograft by speckle tracking echocardiography.Methods Twenty-six heart transplant recipients underwent echocardiographic studies at 1st,3rd,6th and 12th month after heart transplantation.Twenty-six healthy subjects served as controls.Parasternal basal and apical short-axis images of left ventricle were recorded and then were analyzed using EchoPAC software.The curves of basal and apical rotation and left ventricular twist were obtained,Peak values of basal and apical rotation and left ventricular twist were measured and then statistically analyzed.Results There were no significant differences in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and fractional shortening (LVFS) between heart transplant recipients and controls (P ＞0.05).The left ventricular twist,apical rotation were significantly lower in heart transplant recipients at 1 st,3rd,6th and 12th month after surgery than those in controls (P ＜0.05) ;while basal rotation in heart transplant recipients had no significant difference when compared with controls (P ＞0.05).The left ventricular twist,apical and basal rotation in heart transplant recipients among 1 st,3rd,6th and 12th month after surgery had no significant difference (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Although the LVEF and LVFS of cardiac allograft seemed normal,the left ventricular twist,apical rotation were still significantly lower in heart transplant recipients than those in controls.Speckle tracking echocardiography can be used for accurate assessment of left ventricular twist in heart transplant recipients.

Animal model of hydrocephalus is an important object to study the mechanism, pathological characteristics, and treatment of hydrocephalus. A stable and controllable animal model in accordance with clinical development of hydrocephalus can help to develope hydrocephalus related basic research and clinical translational application. According to the study purpose and genetic and physiological characteristics of experimental animals, a variety of animals have been used to establish different types of hydrocephalus animal models. The methods for congenital hydrocephalus models include gene edition and metabolic induction, while secondary hydrocephalus models can be induced by blocking the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid and interfering cerebrospinal fluid absorption. The hydrocephalus models constructed by different methods are also different in progression, neurofunctional changes, and histopathological characteristics. This paper reviews the construction methods and pathological characteristics of various hydrocephalus models in order to provide references for selection of animal models for hydrocephalus-related research.

We report a complete genomic sequence of rare isolates (minor genotype) of the SARS-CoV from SARS patients in Guangdong, China, where the first few cases emerged. The most striking discovery from the isolate is an extra 29-nucleotide sequence located at the nucleotide positions between 27,863 and 27,864 (referred to the complete sequence of BJ01) within an overlapped region composed of BGI-PUP5 (BGI-postulated uncharacterized protein 5) and BGI-PUP6 upstream of the N (nucleocapsid) protein. The discovery of this minor genotype, GD-Ins29, suggests a significant genetic event and differentiates it from the previously reported genotype, the dominant form among all sequenced SARS-CoV isolates. A 17-nt segment of this extra sequence is identical to a segment of the same size in two human mRNA sequences that may interfere with viral replication and transcription in the cytosol of the infected cells. It provides a new avenue for the exploration of the virus-host interaction in viral evolution, host pathogenesis, and vaccine development.
Base Sequence ; China ; Cluster Analysis ; Gene Components ; Genetic Variation ; Genome, Viral ; Genotype ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; SARS Virus ; genetics ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; genetics