Twenty-two normal children were studied for body fat (BF) and lean body weight (LBW) by a hydrodensitometric technique, whole-body bioelec-trical impedance values (Z) using a 177 kHz, 100?A signal and various an-thropometric data. Two bioelectrical impedance indices (BII) were ZW/H2 and H2/Z. The linear correlation coefficients between ZW/H2 and BF and between H2/Z and LEW were 0.9617 and 0.9326 (P

Child ; Critical Care ; methods ; Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation ; Humans ; Pediatrics ; methods

Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Newborn, Diseases ; Lung Diseases ; Point-of-Care Systems ; Ultrasonography

In order to analyze and judge the condition of critical patients in PICU,and provide an objective basis for the treatment,invasive monitoring of physiological functions as a technology of understanding organs state is particularly important in clinical practice.Due to organ failure,some children require in vitro device to completely or partly replace organ function for a certain time,which can save and restore organ function.In order to reduce the incidence of iatrogenic damage,risk awareness and active prevention are required during these invasive procedures and organ replacement.

Disease Management ; Ductus Arteriosus, Patent ; therapy ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Infant, Premature, Diseases ; therapy

BACKGROUND: Pleiotropia and indeterminateness of the differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) cause great difficulties for clinical application.Therefore,it is the key to solving the problem to investigate the proliferation and differentiation condition of NSCs.OBJECTIVE:To observe the effects of epidermal growth factor(EGF)and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells of human embryonic brain.DESIGN: A randomised and controlled experiment taking cultured human embryonic stem cells as subjects.SETTING: Department of Pediatrics of Zhujiang Hospital, the First Military Medical University of Chinese PLA.MATERIALS:This experiment was conducted at the Central Laboratory of the Department of Pediatrics of Chinese PLA from January to May 2004.Two 16-week embryos from induced labor by water bags voluntarily were chosen at random from the Department of Obstetrics in a tertiary hospital in Guangzhou(Informed consent was obtained from the parents of the fetuses).Then,cells in the subventricular zone were cultured in serum-free medium and serum medium, respectively.METHODS:Primary cells of subventricular zone of human embryonic brain were cultured with serum-free nedium containing EGF,bFGF and EGF + bFGF.The concentration of two growth factors was both 20 μg/L;experiment of differentiation was performed on the cell neurospheres cultured from the primary generation with serum culture medium;differentia tive cells were detected with immonohistochemical technique.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:The number of neurospheres and the change of neurons and gliocytes from neurospheres in each group.RESULTS:① There was no significant difference in the number of primary neurospheres between bFGF group and EGF+bFGF group [(150.3±14.9) /well vs (173.6±26.4)/we11, P ＞ 0.05] , but the number in the two groups was both more than that in EGF group [(99.5±14.9)/we11, P ＜ 0.01].② The neurons differentiated from neurospheres in bFGF group and EGF+bFGF group outnumbered those in EGF group, but gliocytes in EGF group outnumbered those in EGF + bFGF group.CONCLUSION:① bFGF can promote the proliferation of neural stem cells of subventricular zone of human embryonic brain,and the formed neurospheres can differentiate more neurons.② Combination of EGF and bFGF is not superior to single bFGF in effect,suggesting that there is no synergistic effect.

BACKGROUND: Neural stem cells(NSCs) have been used to treat brain injury or some degenerating diseases of nervous system. Since in vitro culture conditions for NSCs differ from normal physiological conditions, whether the properties of the cultured cells are consistent with those of cells under physiological conditions? Therefore, inducing endogenous NSCs to proliferate and differentiate may be more promising for practise of NSCs.OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to investigate the developmental properties of NSCs in frontal cortex of embryonic human brain at various ages.DESIGN: It was a randomized experimental study.SETTING: This study was conducted at Department of Pediatrics, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 90 16-to-36-week-old fetuses underwent inducing abortion by water bag were selected at the Obstetrics & Gynecology Department of Zhujiang Hospital Affiliated to Southern Medical University from October 2003 to March 2004. Brain tissue was taken from the frontal cortex of the aborted fetuses. All the mothers had normal physical examination findings. The informed consents on inducing abortion by water bag had been obtained from relatives and the mothers. The study was conducted with a prior permission from the competent department of the First Military Medical University. According to their ages, the fetuses were divided into 6 groups,16-week group, 20-week group, 24-week group, 28-week group and 36-week group, each group containing 15 cases.METHODS: After inducing abortion by water bag, under axenic conditions, the aborted fetus was dissected, with the scalp excisd, the skull opened and the membrane covering brain pull apart. Then the frontal cerebral cortex was taken out, fixed and sliced. Employing immunohistochemical staining and light microscope, distribution, morphological features, phenotypes, growth patterns and quantity of NSCs in the frontal cortex were observed. Morphological features of the cells and expressions of markers in the cells were examined under light microscope. Negative control was set according to the substitution method. Under a × 400 field of microscope, some nestin-positive cells with speckled brown cytoplasmic staining were defined as NSCs. Two slides of each sample were detected and 10 fields of each slide were observed. Based on these observations, in each group, the total number of cells and the number of positive-stained cells in 300 fields were counted. The rates of nestin-positive cells were calculated.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Morphological features, quantitative assessment and developmental features of the nestin-positive NSCs in frontal cortex of embryonic human brain at various ages were main outcome measurements in this study.RESULTS: NSCs were found in frontal cortex of embryonic human brain. They mainly were distributed in the pyramidal layer and the internal granular layer. They were small round-or oval-shaped, most were small round-shaped. These cells had a relatively large vacuolar nucleus with 1 - 3 nucleoli, loose chromatin and marked cytoplasmic staining. Some of the round-shaped cells were mitral cells with short neurites. The oval-shaped cells had 2 neurites. A distinct territorial distribution of NSCs could be observed. Some colonies, consisting of a few NSCs and looked like the neurospheres in in vitro culture, could be seen. Occasionally, symmetrical division of NSCs could be observed. In all the groups, 16-week, 20-week, 24-week,28-week, 32-week and 36-week group, the rates of nestin-positive NSCs in frontal cortex of embryonic human brain decreased with the increase of age (15.59%, 13.48%, 11.62%, 10.52% ,9.87% ,6.68% ,X2 = 1 265. 152, P＜ 0.01).CONCLUSION: The distribution, morphological features, phenotypes, growth pattern and quantity of the NSCs in frontal cortex of embryonic human brain at various ages are different and auto-developmental features exist. The number of these cells decreases with the increase of age.

Stem cell therapy for retinal disease is under way,and several clinical trials are currently recruiting. These trials use human umbilical cord tissue-derived stem cells and bone marrow-derived stem cells to treat visual dis-orders such as age-related macular degeneration,and retinitis pigmentosa. Mesenchymal stem cells( bone marrow mes-enchymal stem cells,BMSCs) belong to adult pluripotent stem cells,capable of unlimited self-renewal,have the poten-tial multi-directional differentiation,and more recent researches,mainly through such cells can differentiation into reti-nal characteristics and morphology similar to or the same structural characteristics of functional impairment, which is widely used in the treatment of retinal diseases. In recent years′researches,whether in the vivo or in vitro experiments, BMSCs have the potential to differentiate into nerve cells offering the selectivity of treatment in retinal injury and disea-ses. So,this view discussed the biological characteristics of BMSCs and bone marrow in the mechanism of action of reti-nopathy,relevant treatment.

We studied the immunoreactive Beta-endorphin (ir-?-Ep) plasma levels inresponse to an oral glucose tolerance test in 7 children with simple obesity and 7 childrenof normal weight. It was shown that the levels of ir-?-Ep and insulin were significantlyhigher in the obese children as compared to controls during oral glucose tolerance test,which reached a peak at 60 minutes. The result supports the concept of a possible linkbetween Beta-endorphin and glucose homeostasis.

The cardiovascular system plays a key role in sepsis,and septic myocardial depression is a common finding associated with increased morbidity and mortality.Myocardial depression during sepsis is not clearly defined,but it can perhaps be best described as a global (systolic and diastolic)dysfunction of both the left and right sides of the heart.The pathogenesis of septic myocardial depression involves a complex mix factor of genetic,molecular,metabolic, and structural.Now,the research status on pathogenesis of myocardial depress in sepsis was reviewed.