OBJECTIVETo investigate the changes of the cardiac hemodynamics after acute high altitude exposure in healthy young males and the relationship with acute mountain sickness(AMS).

METHODSLeft ventricular function and oxyhemoglobin saturation (SaO2), heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP) were measured in 218 healthy young males before and after high altitude exposure within 24 h respectively. According to the lake louise score criteria, the subjects were divided into two groups: acute mountain sickness group (AMS group) and non acute mountain sickness group (non-AMS group).

RESULTSHR, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), stroke volume (SV), stroke index (SI) cardiac output (CO), cardiac index (CI) were significantly increased upon acute high altitude exposure (P < 0.05). Whereas SaO2 and end-systolic volume (ESV) were significantly decreased (P < 0.05). In addition, HR, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and MAP in AMS group were significantly higher than those in non-AMS group (P < 0.05). But stroke index (SI) and end-diastolic volume (EDV) in AMS group were significantly lower than those in non-AMS group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONCardiac function in healthy young males upon acute high altitude exposure was enhanced. EDV, HR and SI might become the indexes of predicting the acute mountain sickness in the future.

Acute Disease ; Adult ; Altitude ; Altitude Sickness ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Male ; Ventricular Function, Left ; physiology

To establish a stable mouse model of systemic Candida infection and to set up related standard operation procedure .Methods ICR mice were infected with C.albicans or C.parapsilosis by tail vein injection after immunosuppres-sion by cyclophosphamide .The quality control key points included immunosuppression , strain preparation, inoculation doses and the route of inoculation .Survival analysis , bacterial loads and pathological examination were performed to evaluate the prepared model .Results The developed model showed fugal-specific lesions in multiple organs , especially in the kidneys revealed by histopathological examination .Conclusions A stable mouse model of systemic Candida albicans infection can be successfully established by following standardized operation procedure .This mouse model may provide a useful tool for studies on pathogenesis and immune defense of fungal infection and new anti-fungal drug development and so on .

Purpose The clinical manifestation of primary lymphoma of bone (PBL) is lack of specificity,and it is easy to be misdiagnosed.This study is to investigate the characteristics of ~F-fluorodeoxyglucose (~F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) of PBL and to improve the understanding of its imaging findings.Materials and Methods Fourteen patients with PLB (9 males and 5 females) proved by pathology in the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University from January 2011 to October 2015 were enrolled.18F-FDG PET/CT findings of all the patients were retrospectively analyzed.The CT image,PET image and fusion image were analyzed by 3 physicians of medical imaging.The SUVmax value of the lesion was measured through region of interesting.Results Ten patients with unifocal lesion involved 4 cases of femoral bone,2 cases of pelvis,2 cases of vertebrae,1 case of ulna and 1 case of tibia.The other 4 patients had multifocal lesions.The lesions showed different level of increased radioactivity on the PET imaging with SUVmax of 9.85±4.29.On syn-CT images,6 cases of unifocal PLB showed cribriform or fuzzy boundary insect erosion osteolytic bone destruction,5 of which were accompanied by cortical bone destruction.The other 4 cases of unifocal PLB showed mixed bone destruction.Among the 10 cases of uniffocal PLB,7 of them showed soft tissue masses with unclear boundary and no obvious necrosis or cystic change,1 of them showed pathological fracture and periosteum reaction.The 4 cases of multifocal PBL patients showed multiple osteolytic bone destruction,2 of them had localized soft tissue masses.Conclusion 18F-FDG PET/CT manifestations of PBL have certain characteristics,which is helpful for early diagnosis.It may provide important information for clinical treatment and prognosis evaluation.

Objective To investigate the clinical features of infective endocarditis(IE)in senile patients.Methods The clinical data of 166IE patients were retrospectively studied,including 37senile cases and 129middle aged and young patients finally diagnosed as IE and treated in the hospital the authors served from Jan.1999to Jan.2009.Analysis and comparison between the two groups were done on original heart diseases,clinical manifestations,laboratory examination,imaging features,treatment,prognosis and outcome.Results Among the primary heart diseases,degenerative heart valve disease(62.1%,23/37)and coronary heart disease(24.3%,9/37)were more common in senile patients,among them the body temperature of febrile cases was usually below 38.5℃ (75.7%,28/37),and the cardiac murmurs could be heard usually in aortic valve area(51.4%,19/37).The incidence of embolization was lower in senile group(13.5%,5/ 39)than in middle aged and young group(31.8%,41/129)with significant difference(P0.05)was found in operative mortality between the two groups.Conclusions The outcome is worse in senile patients with infective IE than in middle aged and young cases.Early diagnosis for senile IE patients was difficult because of atypical clinical features and lower positive rate of blood culture.Echocardiography may play a pivotal role in the diagnosis of senile infective IE.Surgical operation may be a reasonable option for the senile IE patients with operative indication.

To offer the reference and method for salt damage in the cultivation of Marsdenia tenacissima, the seeds of M. tenacissima collected from Maguan city ( Yunnan province) were taken as the test materials to study the effects of different priming materials on improving germination and growth under high-level salt stress condition. Four different treatments, which were GA3, KNO3-KH2PO4, PEG-6000, NaCl, combined with ANOVA were applied to test the performance of germination energy, germination percentage, germination index, MDA, SOD, and CAT. The results showed that the seed germination was obviously inhibited under salt stress and the soaked seeds with different priming materials could alleviate the damage of salt stress. Under these treatments, the activities of SOD, CAT the content of soluble protein significantly increased. While the content of MDA significantly decreased. The maximum index was obtained when treated with 1.20% KNO3-KH2PO4, the germination percentage increased from 52.67% to 87.33% and the activity of SOD increased from 138.01 to 219.44 respectively. Comparing with the treatment of 1.20% KNO3-KH2PO4, the germination percentage of treating with 300 mg x L(-1) GA3 increased from 52.67% to 80.67%, while the activity of SOD increased from 138.01 to 444.61.
Germination ; drug effects ; physiology ; Marsdenia ; drug effects ; growth & development ; Nitrates ; pharmacology ; Polyethylene Glycols ; pharmacology ; Potassium Compounds ; pharmacology ; Seeds ; drug effects ; growth & development ; Sodium Chloride ; pharmacology ; Stress, Physiological ; Xanthones ; pharmacology

Objective Establishing the drug?resistant Candida albicans disseminative infected mice model for new drug screening. Methods The disseminative infected mouse model was generated by intravenously injecting a clinical Drug?resistant Candida albicans strain ( CaR) to immunosuppressive ICR mice. The features of model was evaluated by clinical symptom, survival condition, fungal burden in tissue, histopathology, cytokines assay and medication. Results After infected with CaR (0 day), the death of mice started at the first day, though, compared to clinical drug sensitive strain ( CaS) infected group, the difference of mortality rate in 16?day observation period was not significant in two groups (CaR, 90?7%;CaS, 86?2%, P =0?158), mice in CaR group died faster than those in CaS group at the early stage;On the fourth day of infection, Candida albicans could be detected in the different tissues, and we found fungal burden in kidney and brain was a significant difference. The typical granuloma caused by fungal infection was the main histopathological feature observed in the kidney, brain and heart. Cytokines in renal tissue were detected by flow cytometry, The changes of IL?1α,IL?6,TNF?αand IFN?γin kidney were significant. Compared with CaS group, IL?1 and IFN?γ were significantly higher and TNF?αdecreased significantly in CaR group. The mice of groups CaR and CaS were treated with 10 mg/kg fluconazole, the mortality rates were 83?3% and 37?5%, which have a significant difference. Conclusions In this study, we successfully established a drug?resistant Candida albicans disseminative infected mice model which is potential tool for the development of new anti?infectious agent.

OBJECTIVETo study the ITS sequence variation of Pinellia ternata from different population in China, and it correlation to geographical distribution and morpha of the plant.

METHODThe rDNA ITS regions of various P. ternata were amplified and sequenced. And they were analyzed by means of the software of CLUSTRAL and MEGA.

RESULTComplete sequence of ITS and 5.8S rDNA of 16 different P. ternata population were obtained. The sequences of ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2 are 276,162 and 246 bp, respectively. ITS1 was more conservative than ITS2. Phylogenetic tree based on ITS1 and ITS2 sequences data was conducted by Neighbor-joining method.

CONCLUSIONRibosomal DNA ITS sequence analyses can be applied to the resource research of P. ternata.

Base Sequence ; China ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Ecosystem ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Pinellia ; genetics ; Plant Tubers ; genetics ; Plants, Medicinal ; genetics ; RNA, Ribosomal, 5.8S ; genetics ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

BACKGROUNDTourette syndrome (TS) is a complex, heterozygous genetic disorder. The number of molecular genetic studies have investigated several candidate genes, particularly those implicated in the dopamine system. The dopamine D3 receptor (DRD3) gene has been considered as a candidate gene in TS. There was not any report about the association study of TS and DRD3 gene in Han Chinese population. We combined a case-control genetic association analysis and nuclear pedigrees transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) analysis to investigate the association between DRD3 gene rs6280 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and TS in a Han Chinese population.

METHODSA total of 160 TS patients was diagnosed by the diagnostic criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. The DRD3 gene rs6280 SNPs were genotyped by TaqMan SNP genotyping assay technique in all subjects. We used a case-control genetic association analysis to compare the difference in genotype and allele frequencies between 160 TS patients and 90 healthy controls. At the same time, we used TDT analysis to identify the DRD3 gene rs6280 transmission disequilibrium among 101 nuclear pedigrees.

RESULTSThe genotype and allele frequency of DRD3 gene rs6280 SNPs had no statistical difference between control group (90) and TS group (160) (χ2 = 3.647, P = 0.161; χ2 = 0.643, P = 0.423) using Chi-squared test. At the basis of the 101 nuclear pedigrees, TDT analysis showed no transmission disequilibrium of DRD3 gene rs6280 SNPs (χ2 = 0; P = 1).

CONCLUSIONSOur findings provide no evidence for an association between DRD3 gene rs6280 and TS in the Han Chinese population.

Adolescent ; Child ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; genetics ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; genetics ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; genetics ; Receptors, Dopamine D3 ; genetics ; Tourette Syndrome ; etiology

Background: and Purpose We aimed to determine the clinical features of Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS) in southern China and compare them with those presenting in other countries. Methods: We collected the medical records of patients diagnosed with MFS during 2013–2016.We analyzed the age, sex, onset season, precursor events, clinical symptoms and signs, findings of nerve conduction studies (NCS), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), therapeutic remedies, nadir time, and length of hospital stay of patients with MFS in southern China. We concurrently compared the differences between urban and rural areas and between patients with incomplete ophthalmoplegia (IO) and complete ophthalmoplegia (CO). Results: The study enrolled 72 patients: 36 from rural areas and 36 from urban areas, and 50 males and 22 females. The mean age at onset was 47.72 years, and 30 (41.7%) and 21 (29.2%) patients developed MFS in spring and winter, respectively. The typical triad of ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, and areflexia was observed in 50 (69.4%) patients. A history of upper respiratory tract infection 1 week before onset was found in 52.8% of the patients, while 5.6% experienced gastrointestinal infections and 48 (73.8%) exhibited albuminocytological dissociation in the CSF study. Only 26 (36.1%) patients presented abnormalities in NCS. Moreover, restricted outward eyeball movement presented in 83.5% of the patients with classic MFS and acute ophthalmoplegia, and bilateral symmetrical ophthalmoplegia presented in 64.2%. With the exception of the higher proportion of NCS abnormalities in urban areas (47.2% vs. 25.0%), urban and rural differences were insignificant regarding sex ratio, age at onset, high-incidence season, precursor events, disease characteristics, and albuminocytological dissociation in the CSF. Furthermore, patients with CO were older than those with IO (64.53±7.69 vs. 43.19±14.40 years [mean±standard deviation], p<0.001). Conclusions The patients with MFS were mostly male and middle-aged, and most presented in winter and (especially) spring. More than half of the patients had clear precursor events, most of which were classic MFS with the typical triad. More than 70% of the patients presented albuminocytological dissociation in the CSF. NCS abnormalities were uncommon in MFS. The age at onset was lower in patients with IO than in patients with CO; bilateral symmetrical extraocular muscle paralysis was the most common symptom, and the external rectus was the most frequently involved muscle.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the mRNA expression and promoter methylation status of p73 gene in the peripheral blood of children with Wilms' tumor (WT), and their relationship.

METHODSForty-five children with WT were selected as the case group, and 15 sex- and age- matched children (without malignancies) who visited the hospital for physical examination or other reasons were selected as the control group. Peripheral blood was collected from both groups. Real-time quantitative PCR and methylation-specific PCR were used to determine the mRNA expression level and promoter methylation status of p73 gene. Their relationship with clinicopathological features and the effect of promoter methylation on mRNA expression of p73 gene were analyzed in the case group.

RESULTSThe relative quantity (RQ) of p73 mRNA in the case group was significantly higher than in the control group (3.2 ± 0.9 vs 1.6 ± 1.1; P<0.01). The positive rate of p73 gene promoter methylation in the case group was significantly lower than in the control group (20% vs 73%; P<0.01). In the case group, the RQ of p73 mRNA was significantly higher in children with methylated p73 gene promoter than in those with unmethylated p73 gene promoter (P<0.01). In children with methylated p73 gene promoter, the RQ of p73 mRNA was significantly higher in the case group than in the control group (P<0.01). In children with unmethylated p73 gene promoter, there was no significant difference in RQ of p73 mRNA between the case and control groups (P=0.810).

CONCLUSIONSAberrant promoter methylation of p73 gene in peripheral blood is one of the gene expression regulations in children with WT, and it is related to the onset and development of WT. The p73 gene may play a role as oncogene in WT patients with p73 gene promoter methylation and mRNA overexpression is associated with promoter methylation status of p73 gene.

Child, Preschool ; DNA Methylation ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; genetics ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Infant ; Kidney Neoplasms ; genetics ; Male ; Nuclear Proteins ; genetics ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; RNA, Messenger ; blood ; Tumor Protein p73 ; Tumor Suppressor Proteins ; genetics ; Wilms Tumor ; genetics