To establish method suitable to assay HCMVpp65 of the blood donors in blood bank and to supply safe blood to the patients, the immunocytochemical techniques were used, (6 - 8) x 10(6)/ml cells were counted, 50 x 10(3) cells were detected by light microscope, The results showed that 10 positive samples in 103 samples were found, positive rate was 9.71%, among 10 positive samples, 2 samples were still positive in the second detecting. In conclusion, this method is simple, quick and effective, suitable to detect HCMVpp65 of the blood donors in the blood bank.
Blood Banks ; Blood Donors ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Phosphoproteins ; blood ; Viral Matrix Proteins ; blood

AIM To observe the expression of inducible nitric ox ide synthase (iNOS) in the rats' hippocampus of kainic acid (KA) induced-seizur es and the effect of L-arginine(L-Arg) or L-nitroarginine(L- NNA) chronic intervention before KA. METHODS The expression of iN OS mRNA by RT-PCR and behaviour were observed after administration of convulsan t dose of KA (10 mg?kg -1 ) and pretreatment with NO predecessor (L-Ar g, 40 mg?kg -1 ) or a inhibitor of NOS(L-NNA, 50 mg?kg -1 ) befo re KA. RESULTS The time-dependent seizures were induced on rats after giving KA, and were improved and serious in the animals with L-NNA pr etreatment, but they were alleviated by L-Arg pretreatment before KA. Compa red with control, iNOS mRNA expression was feebly at KA 3 h, continuative improv ement accompanying KA time prolonged, and it was markedly enhanced at KA 24 h. I t couldn't be examined at KA 2 d or 3 d, and was obviously improved at KA 7 d a gain. iNOS mRNA appeared weak in the rats hippocampus with L-Arg pretreatme nt after KA 1 h, whereas it wasn't found in L-NNA pretreatment animals. CONCLUSION iNOS mRNA expression appeared in the hippocampus of seizu re rats at a few time after KA, and L-Arg chronic intervention before KA ha s a little effect on it.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Ischemic post-conditioning (PostC) has been demonstrated as a novel strategy to harness nature's protection against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R). Hypercholesterolemia (HC) has been reported to block the effect of PostC on the heart. Angiotensin II type-1 (AT1) modulators have shown benefits in myocardial ischemia. The present study investigates the effect of a novel inhibitor of AT1, azilsartan in PostC of the heart of normocholesterolemic (NC) and HC rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HC was induced by the administration of high-fat diet to the animals for eight weeks. Isolated Langendorff's perfused NC and HC rat hearts were exposed to global ischemia for 30 min and reperfusion for 120 min. I/R-injury had been assessed by cardiac hemodynamic parameters, myocardial infarct size, release of tumor necrosis factor-alpha troponin I, lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, nitrite in coronary effluent, thiobarbituric acid reactive species, a reduced form of glutathione, superoxide anion, and left ventricle collagen content in normal and HC rat hearts. RESULTS: Azilsartan post-treatment and six episodes of PostC (10 sec each) afforded cardioprotection against I/R-injury in normal rat hearts. PostC protection against I/R-injury was abolished in HC rat hearts. Azilsartan prevented the HC-mediated impairment of the beneficial effects of PostC in I/R-induced myocardial injury, which was inhibited by L-N⁵-(1-Iminoethyl)ornithinehydrochloride, a potent inhibitor of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). CONCLUSION: Azilsartan treatment has attenuated the HC-induced impairment of beneficial effects of PostC in I/R-injury of rat hearts, by specifically modulating eNOS. Azilsartan may be explored further in I/R-myocardial injury, both in NC and HC conditions, with or without PostC.
Angiotensin II ; Animals ; Collagen ; Creatine Kinase ; Diet, High-Fat ; Glutathione ; Heart ; Heart Ventricles ; Hemodynamics ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Ischemia ; Ischemic Postconditioning* ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III ; Rats ; Reperfusion ; Reperfusion Injury ; Superoxides ; Troponin I ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Gastric carcinoma rarely presents as a perforation, but when it does, is perceived as advanced disease. The majority of such perforations are Stage III/IV disease. A T1 gastric carcinoma has never been reported to perforate spontaneously in English literature. We present a 56 year-old Chinese male who presented with a perforated gastric ulcer. Intra-operatively, there was no suspicion of malignancy. At operation, an open omental patch repair was performed. Post-operative endoscopy revealed a macroscopic Type 0~III tumour and from the ulcer edge biopsy was reported as adenocarcinoma. Subsequently, the patient underwent open subtotal gastrectomy and formal D2 lymphadenectomy. The final histopathology report confirms T1b N0 disease. The occurrence of a perforated early gastric cancer re-emphasises the need for vigilance, including intra-operative frozen section and/or biopsy, as well as routine post-operative endoscopy for all patients.
Adenocarcinoma ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Biopsy ; Endoscopy ; Frozen Sections ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Male ; Peritonitis ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Stomach Ulcer ; Ulcer

This study was aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of growth factor-primed donor peripheral mononuclear stem cell infusion (DMNCI) for patients with relapsed leukemia after haploidentical bone marrow transplantation (BMT). The donor was the same individual for both BMT and DMNCI. All the three patients described here were Philadelphia chromosome positive leukemia before haploidentical BMT; one case was newly diagnosed as acute lymhoblastic leukemia (ALL) and the others were chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Two cases (one with ALL and one with CML) manifested with clinical relapse and the third case was in the stage of molecular relapse. The former 2 patients received a single bulk dose of DMNCI, the inoculums of which contained mononuclear cells of 8.25 x 10(8)/kg or 5.24 x 10(8)/kg and CD3-positive cells of 1.87 x 10(8)/kg or 1.14 x 10(8)/kg respectively. The third case received initial dose of DMNCI which was 2.0 x 10(7)/kg, and received CD3 positive cells of 1.1 x 10(7)/kg. The results indicated that the different therapeutic responses were found in all three patients. Two patients with clinical relapse received temporal remission, and died of severe graft versus host disease (GVHD), relapse and failure at day 41 and 49 after DMNCI. The third patient with molecular relapse received molecular remission after 2 infusions of DMNCI. All three patients developed acute GVHD, but two patients among them developed GVHD of grad IV, other one developed GVHD of grad I and has survived in disease-free state during half a year follow-up. It is concluded that the DMNCI may be effective for the treatment of relapsed leukemia after haploidentical BMT and this treatment can be safe if the initial dose of DMNCI is 10(7)/kg and subsequent single dose of DMNCI gradually increases.
Adult ; Blood Donors ; Blood Transfusion, Autologous ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; methods ; Child ; Female ; Haplotypes ; immunology ; Humans ; Leukemia ; therapy ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear ; transplantation ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; therapy

BACKGROUNDIdentification of hospitalized carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)-positive patient is important in preventing nosocomial transmission. The objective of this study was to illustrate the implementation of proactive infection control measures in preventing nosocomial transmission of CRE in a healthcare region of over 3200 beds in Hong Kong between October 1, 2010 and December 31, 2011.

METHODSThe program included active surveillance culture in patients with history of medical tourism with hospitalization and surgical operation outside Hong Kong within 12 months before admission, and "added test" as an opportunistic CRE screening in all fecal specimens submitted to the laboratory. Outbreak investigation and contact tracing were conducted for CRE-positive patients. Serial quantitative culture was performed on CRE-positive patients and the duration of fecal carriage of CRE was analyzed.

RESULTSDuring the study period, a total of 6533 patients were screened for CRE, of which 76 patients were positive (10 from active surveillance culture, 65 from "added test", and 1 secondary case from contact tracing of 223 patients with no nosocomial outbreak), resulting in an overall rate of CRE fecal carriage of 1.2%. The median time of fecal carriage of CRE was 43 days (range, 13-119 days). Beta-lactam-beta-lactamase-inhibitors, cephalosporins, and fluoroquinolones were associated significantly with high fecal bacterial load when used 90 days before CRE detection, while use of cephalosporins, carbapenems, and fluoroquinolones after CRE detection are significantly associated with longer duration of carriage. The duration of fecal carriage of CRE also correlates significantly with the initial fecal bacterial load (Pearson correlation: 0.53; P = 0.02).

CONCLUSIONProactive infection control measures by enhanced surveillance program identify CRE-positive patients and data obtained are useful for the planning of and resource allocation for CRE control.

Anti-Bacterial Agents ; therapeutic use ; Carbapenems ; therapeutic use ; Cephalosporins ; therapeutic use ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Enterobacteriaceae ; drug effects ; Enterobacteriaceae Infections ; prevention & control ; transmission ; Fluoroquinolones ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Infection Control ; methods

INTRODUCTION: Family history of psychopathology is a risk factor for mood and anxiety disorders in children, but little is known about rates of parental psychopathology among treatment-seeking youth with affective disorders in the Asia Pacific region. This study examined patterns of emotional and behavioural problems in parents of clinically-referred youth in Singapore. We hypothesised that parents would have higher rates of affective disorders compared to the Singapore national prevalence rate of 12%. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 47 families were recruited from affective disorders and community-based psychiatry programmes run by a tertiary child psychiatry clinic. All children had a confirmed primary clinical diagnosis of depression or an anxiety disorder. Parents completed the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) to assess for lifetime mood and anxiety disorders. They also completed the Adult Self Report (ASR) and Adult Behavior Checklist (ABCL) to assess current internalising and externalising symptoms. RESULTS: Consistent with our hypothesis, 38.5% of mothers and 10.5% of fathers reported a lifetime mood and anxiety disorder. Nearly 1/3 of mothers had clinical/subclinical scores on current internalising and externalising problems. A similar pattern was found for internalising problems among fathers, with a slightly lower rate of clinical/subclinical externalising problems. CONCLUSION Our findings are consistent with previous overseas studies showing elevated rates of affective disorders among parents - particularly mothers - of children seeking outpatient psychiatric care. Routine screening in this population may help to close the current treatment gap for adults with mood and anxiety disorders.
Adult ; Anxiety Disorders ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Child ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Family Health ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mood Disorders ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Parent-Child Relations ; Parenting ; psychology ; Parents ; psychology ; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ; Psychopathology ; Singapore ; epidemiology

INTRODUCTION: Hospital-based resuscitation interventions, such as therapeutic temperature management (TTM), emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) can improve outcomes in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). We investigated post-resuscitation interventions and hospital characteristics on OHCA outcomes across public hospitals in Singapore over a 9-year period. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study of all OHCA cases that presented to 6 hospitals in Singapore from 2010 to 2018. Data were extracted from the Pan-Asian Resuscitation Outcomes Study Clinical Research Network (PAROS CRN) registry. We excluded patients younger than 18 years or were dead on arrival at the emergency department. The outcomes were 30-day survival post-arrest, survival to admission, and neurological outcome. RESULTS: The study analysed 17,735 cases. There was an increasing rate of provision of TTM, emergency PCI and ECMO (P<0.001) in hospitals, and a positive trend of survival outcomes (P<0.001). Relative to hospital F, hospitals B and C had lower provision rates of TTM (≤5.2%). ECMO rate was consistently <1% in all hospitals except hospital F. Hospitals A, B, C, E had <6.5% rates of provision of emergency PCI. Relative to hospital F, OHCA cases from hospitals A, B and C had lower odds of 30-day survival (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]<1; P<0.05 for hospitals A-C) and lower odds of good neurological outcomes (aOR<1; P<0.05 for hospitals A-C). OHCA cases from academic hospitals had higher odds ratio (OR) of 30-day survival (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.5) than cases from hospitals without an academic status. CONCLUSION Post-resuscitation interventions for OHCA increased across all hospitals in Singapore from 2010 to 2018, correlating with survival rates. The academic status of hospitals was associated with improved survival.
Hospitals, Public ; Humans ; Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest/therapy* ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Prospective Studies ; Singapore/epidemiology*