Objective To explore the epidemical pattern of acute schistosomiasis in Poyang Lake area so as to provide the scientific evidence for control-strategy-making. Methods The data of acute schistosomiasis in 12 counties along Poyang Lake from 1960 to 2007, including the data of 2 special investigations from 1982 to 1984 and from 1987 to 1989 were collected and analyzed with the retrospective investigation methods. Results There were 29 864 cases of acute schistosomiasis in 12 counties of Poyang Lake area from 1960 to 2007, accounting for 85.5% of the total acute schistosomiasis cases of Jiangxi Province. The largest number of cases existed in Yugan County, accounting for 18. 7%. The peak of acute schistosomiasis prevalence was in 1987 with 2 088 cases. However, the case of acute schistosomiasis declined significantly, keeping at a low level, since 1990. During the 2 special investigations, the people whose age were lower than 30 years old, were the susceptible populations of acute schistosomiasis (86. 1% and 82. 9% , respectively) , most of them were peasants and students, and the infection rates were 57. 4% and 21.2%, 61.7% and 21. 8%, respectively. Fishing and swimming were the main infection ways, with the infection rates of 43.0% and 44.9% , respectively. The peak season of infection was from April to October. Conclusions The river bank and continent of Poyang Lake are the main infection areas, the spring and autumn are the main epidemic seasons and the susceptible populations are the peasants, fishmen and young students. It is very important to enhance the comprehensive prevention and treatment measures in the key areas and population for schistosomiasis control.

Objective To evaluate the predictive value of ABCD2 scoring system in cerebral infarction and death events in the medium-term after transient ischemic attack (TIA) of Chinese population. Methods One hundred and seventy-nine patients with TIA having complete clinical data,admitted to our hospital from January 2008, were chosen in our perspective study. The ABCD2 scale was applied to all the patients and used to observe the 18-month cerebral infarction risk events; according to these data, patients after TIA were divided into cerebral infarction group and non-cerebral infarction group; To the end of 18 months, according to the death event, the patients were divided into survival group and death group. The age, level of blood pressure, clinical features, duration of symptoms and history of diabetes were collected and compared between each 2 groups; the cutofflevel of ABCI2 scale for anticipating cerebral infarction risk and mortality was evaluated according to receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results Among the studied 179 patients, 52 patients appeared cerebral infarctions within 18 months of TIA; patients in the cerebral infarction group had significantly higher percentage of patients with blood pressure ≥ 140/90 mm Hg (86.5％), unilateral weakness (42.3％),duration of symptoms ≥60 minutes (55.8％), or duration of symptoms 10 to 59 minutes (40.4％), and diabetes (80.8％) as compared with patients in the non-cerebral infarction group (P＜0.05). According to the ROC curve, area under curve was 0.874 of ABCD2 scale for anticipating cerebral infarction risk, 95％confidence interval (CI) was 0.817-0.931 and the cutoff level of ABCD2 scale for anticipating medium-term cerebral infarction risk was 4.5. Among the studied 179 patients, 35 patients died within 18months of TIA; no significant difference in the scores of ABCD2 scale was noted between survival group and death group (P＞0.05); according to ROC curve, area under curve was 0.492 of ABCD2 scale for anticipating mortality, and 95％ CI was 0.389-0.596. Conclusion ABCD2 scale has predictive value in cerebral infarction event, while not in death event in the medium-term of TIA.

Objective To investigate the role of HBO on the change of levels of ACA and thrombomodulin among parents with ischemic encephalopathy. Methods Patients were divided into three groups: group A (patients with atherosclerosis and thrombosis),group B (patients with cardiogenic embolism) and group C (patients with small artery lesion). All patients were treated with HBO and regular drugs. And then sss scores were recorded and levels of ACA-IgG and thrombomodulin were detected by ELISA before and after therapy of HBO. Results The index of ACA-IgG and lelvel of TM in A,B and C group were higher than those in control group,there are differences among them(P＜0.05),and the level of them were higher in B group than in A and C group.There were significant differences in SSS score for brain function using different therapies in A、B and C group (P＜0.05), but there are no differences among them(P＞0.05).There were differences in the index of ACA-IgG and thrombomodulin using different therapies in A,B and C group(P＜0.05),however,there were no differences among them (P＞0.05). Conclusion HBO can alleviate clinical symptoms and improve recovery of neuron by decreasing the level of ACA-IgG and thrombomodulin in blood,but the effect is not significantly different for ischemic encephalopathy caused by different factors.

OBJECTIVE To clarify out the network pharmacology mechanism of Polygala tenuifolia against Alzheimer disease(AD).METHODS Firstly,we collected the chemical constituents from Polyg-ala tenuifolia and key targets toward AD.Machine learning algorithms were applied to construct classifi-ers for predicting the effective constituents. Secondly, docking models were utilized for further evalua-tion.Finally,we built constituent-target,target-target network and target-biology pathway network.RE-SULTS 104 chemical constituents Polygala tenuifolia from were collected.Through prediction of blood-brain penetration and validation,36 chemical constituents were selected among 100 chemical constitu-ents,their action targets mainly focused on AChE,COX-2,TNF-α,insulin-degrading enzyme and APP. Their main structure types include Polygala saponins, Polygala glycosides, Polygala shrubby ketones, polygala xanthones and sterols,which acted on AchE,APP,M-TAU,GSK3β and 5HT1A with high fre-quency.Gene-Ontology and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the main pathways of these con-stituents involve in neurotransmitter release,synaptic conduction and synaptic plasticity,apoptosis reg-ulation,phosphorylation pathway,Ca2+signaling pathway,and so on.CONCLUSION This study uncov-ered a network mechanism of Polygala tenuifolia against Alzheimer disease,which may provide impor-tant information for the further study and new drug development.

OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical characteristics and genetic variation of early-onset Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). METHODS: Children with a clinical diagnosis of early-onset CMT were selected for the study. Relevant clinical data were collected, and electromyogram and CMT-related gene detection were performed and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 13 cases of early-onset CMT were enrolled, including 9 males (69%) and 4 females (31%). The mean age at consultation was 4.0±2.1 years. Among them, 12 children (92%) had an age of onset less than 2 years, 9 children (69%) were diagnosed with CMT type 1 (including 6 cases of Dejerine-Sottas syndrome), 1 child (8%) with intermediate form of CMT, and 3 children (23%) with CMT type 2. The genetic test results of these 13 children showed 6 cases (46%) of PMP22 duplication mutation, 3 cases (23%) of MPZ gene insertion mutation and point mutation, 3 cases (23%) of MFN2 gene point mutation, and 1 case (8%) of NEFL gene point mutation. Eleven cases (85%) carried known pathogenic mutations and 2 cases (15%) had novel mutations. The new variant c.394C>G (p.P132A) of the MPZ gene was rated as "possibly pathogenic" and the new variant c.326A>G (p.K109R) of the MFN2 gene was rated as "pathogenic". CONCLUSIONS Early-onset CMT is mainly caused by PMP22 gene duplication mutation and MPZ gene mutations. The clinical phenotype is mainly CMT type 1, among which Dejerine-Sottas syndrome accounts for a considerable proportion.
Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Genetic Testing ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male ; Mutation

The breeding of domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) for human consumption has a long tradition in China. Infections that can affect the production of meat or even be transmitted from animals to humans are important to monitor, especially for public health reasons as well as for their impact on animal health. Thus, a total of 1,132 domestic rabbit sera from 4 regions in China were collected for serological screening for Encephalitozoon cuniculi and for Toxoplasma gondii by ELISA and modified agglutination test (MAT), respectively. Antibodies to E. cuniculi were detected in 248/1,132 (21.9%) sera tested while antibodies against T. gondii revealed a seroprevalence of 51/1,132 (4.5%). We believe that the present results are of epidemiological implications and public health importance due to the acknowledged susceptibility of humans to E. cuniculi and T. gondii infections. Therefore, routine screening tests of domestic rabbits are proposed considering the zoonotic potential of these parasites.
Animals ; Animals, Domestic/blood/microbiology/parasitology ; Antibodies, Fungal/*blood ; Antibodies, Protozoan/*blood ; China/epidemiology ; Encephalitozoon cuniculi/*immunology/isolation & purification ; Encephalitozoonosis/blood/microbiology/*veterinary ; Female ; Male ; Rabbits/blood/microbiology/parasitology ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Toxoplasma/*immunology/isolation & purification ; Toxoplasmosis, Animal/*blood/parasitology

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the potential usefulness of a multivariable model in predicting the response to immunosuppressive therapy (IST) in patients with aplastic anemia (AA), and its application to the clinical practice.

METHODSPB T cells subpopulation and BM T cells intracellular IFN-gamma and IL-4 were serially analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM) before and during treatment. HLA-DRB1 * 1501 phenotype was analyzed by PCR-SSP. The predictive potentials of different parameter combinations for clinical responsiveness were statistically assessed.

RESULTSIn all evaluated parameters, CD8+ cell intracellular IFN-gamma had the relatively best diagnostic value with sensitivity and specificity of 94.3% and 62.5%, and positive and negative predictive value of 84.6% and 83.3% respectively. Positive CD8+ cell intracellular IFN-gamma plus Tc1/Tc2 < 50 could increase the positive predictive value to 92.3%. A multivariable model consisting of absolute neutrophil count (ANC), BM T cell intracellular IFN-gamma, Tc1/Tc2 ratio and HLA-DRB * 1501 phenotype of the patients was finally established.

CONCLUSIONThe multivariable model is superior to each of the single parameters in terms of predictive power of IST therapeutic outcome, and its higher accuracy and the clinical application make it potentially useful in practice.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Anemia, Aplastic ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Child ; Feasibility Studies ; Female ; HLA-DR Antigens ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunosuppression ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Models, Statistical ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology ; Treatment Outcome

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that seriously threatens the life of the elderly and there is no effective therapy to treat or delay the onset of this disease. Due to the multifactorial etiology of this disease, the multi-target-directed ligand (MTDL) approach is an innovative and promising method in search for new drugs against AD. In order to find potential multi-target anti-AD drugs through reposition of current drugs, the database of global drugs on market were mined by an anti-AD multi-target prediction platform established in our laboratory. As a result, inositol nicotinate, cyproheptadine, curcumin, rosiglitazone, demecarium, oxybenzone, agomelatine, codeine, imipramine, dyclonine, melatonin, perospirone, and bufexamac were predicted to act on at least one anti-AD drug target yet act against AD through various mechanisms. The compound-target network was built using the Cytoscape. The prediction was validated by molecular docking between agomelatine and its multiple targets, including ADORA2A, ACHE, BACE1, PTGS2, MAOB, SIGMAR1 and ESR1. Agomelatine was shown to be able to act on all the targets above. In conclusion, the potential drugs for anti-AD therapy in the database for global drugs on market was partially uncovered using machine learning, network pharmacology, and molecular docking methods. This study provides important information for drug reposition in anti-AD therapy.

This study aims to investigate the network pharmacology of Chinese medicinal formulae for treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Machine learning algorithms were applied to construct classifiers in predicting the active molecules against 25 key targets toward Alzheimer's disease (AD). By extensive data profiling, we compiled 13 classical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas with clinical efficacy for AD. There were 7 Chinese herbs with a frequency of 5 or higher in our study. Based on the predicted results, we built constituent-target, and further construct target-target interaction network by STRING (Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins) and target-disease network by DAVID (Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery) and gene disease database to study the synergistic mechanism of the herbal constituents in the Chinese traditional patent medicine. By prediction of blood-brain penetration and validation by TCMsp (traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology) and Drugbank, we found 7 typical multi-target constituents which have diverse structure. The mechanism uncovered by this study may offer a deep insight into the action mechanism of TCMs for AD. The predicted inhibitors for the AD-related targets may provide a good source of new lead constituents against AD.