Objective To investigate the coverage of a recombinant protein vaccine based on pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) from both family 1 and family 2.Methods One hundred and fifty-nine Streptococcus pneumoniae strains, including 47 invasive strains, were isolated from children in Nanjing Children′s Hospital.Cell lysates were prepared and reacted with three antibodies recognizing PspA -RX1, PspA-3296 and PspA-5668 for PspA typing by ELISA .Results Among 47 invasive isolates of 9 different serotypes, 10.7%were PspA family 1 and 89.3%were PspA family 2.Among all of 159 clinical isolates, 10.1% were identified as PspA family 1, 88.0%were family 2, while 1.9%of strains could not be typed by ELISA and PCR assays .None of strains belonged to PspA family 3.Conclusion The recombinant pro-tein vaccine based on PspA from both family 1 and family 2 has a broad coverage among clinical isolates and is potentially protective against both invasive and non-invasive pneumococcal diseases .

Objective:To prepare a virus-like particle (VLP),containing Hepatitis B virus core antigen (HBcAg) and N-terminal peptides of the L2 protein of human papilloma virus (HPV),and investigate the immunogenicity of the VLP in mice and the protection against different strains of HPV .Methods:A fusion gene was synthesized to insert a DNA fragment ,coding for the N-terminal epitopes of the L2 protein of HPV16,into the HBcAg coding sequence;HBc-L2 fusion protein was highly expressed in E.coli using the pET9a and BL21(DE3) expression system;the purified fusion protein was used to immunize BALB/c mice and antibody titers against the L2 epitopes in mouse sera were determined by indirect ELISA;the levels of neutralizing antibodies against both HPV 16 and 18 were also analyzed.Results:HBc-L2 fusion protein was expressed in E.coli and purified,with the purity >80%,by ammonium sulfate pre-cipitation and CL-4B gel filtration;analysis of the purified fusion protein ,using size exclusion chromatography with multi-angle laser light scattering detection ( SEC-MALS) and electron microscope ,revealed that HBc-L2 was assembled into a stable VLP structure auto-matically following its expression;immunization of BALB/c mice with the purified VLPs resulted in high antibody titers in mouse sera against the L2 epitopes;furthermore,it was demonstrated that the sera from the immunized mice had neutralization activities against both HPV16 and HPV18.Conclusion:The immunogenicity of the L2 epitopes was highly enhanced by the construction of HBc-L2 fusion protein and the formation of the VLP structure;the fusion protein was also capable of inducing protections against different serotypes of HPV,therefore,it could be a potential HPV vaccine with a broad coverage and low production cost .

Objective To evaluate the feasibility and outcome of laparoscopic cholecystectomy as a overnight procedure in China.Methods The data of 59 consecutive patients who had undergone outpatient laparoscopic cholecystectomy between Januaiy 2013 and January 2015.All the patients were operated in the morning hours and discharged during 24 hours after operation.They were contacted by telephone 3 days subsequent to surgery and were seen in the outpatient unit 7 days after.Results Fifty-nine laparoscopic cholecystectomies were performed.No Conversion to open surgery case.The average operation time was 25 minutes,and restore semi-liquid diet 6 hours after the operation All the 59 patients were discharged during 24 hours after operations.None of the patients had an emergency readmission.None of the patients had complications 7 days after discharged.The average payment was 8 240 yuan.Conclusion These results suggest that laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be routinely performed as a overnight procedure.

Objective　To assess the willingness of students with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in Jiangsu Province to undergo preventive treatment and identify factors influencing their decision, aiming to provide insights for tuberculosis prevention and control strategies in school. Methods The physical examination information of tuberculosis latent infection cases was collected from screenings of new school enrollment and contacts of tuberculosis patients in 6 cities of Jiangsu Province from December 2022 to December 2023. Data on past medical history and understanding of preventive treatment were gathered through an online questionnaire survey on the website of Juanxing, and the influencing factors related to the willingness to take preventive medication were analyzed by logistic regression analysis model. Results In December 2022 to December 2023, a total of 13 school tuberculosis outbreaks occurred in 6 cities, and 1 661 contacts were screened, among which 162 cases met the criteria for prophylactic medication, 96 cases were included in the study by filling in the questionnaire. A total of 22 600 new students from 56 schools participated in the TB screening upon enrollment, of which 358 tested positive for the tuberculin skin test alone, meeting the criteria for preventive medication, and 251 of them completed the willingness survey. Finally, 347 students who met the criteria for preventive treatment were included in the study, with 164 expressing to accept preventive treatment representing a treatment acceptance rate of 47.3%. The results of multivariate analysis showed that university (OR=17.950, 95%CI: 3.078-104.686, P=0.001) and contact with the source of school tuberculosis epidemic (OR=19.542, 95%CI: 6.289-60.726, P<0.001) were associated with increased willingness to receive preventive treatment, while unclear whether to pay for the drugs themselves (OR=0.349, 95%CI:0.133-0.916, P=0.032) was associated with decreased willingness to receive preventive treatment. Compared with Huai'an City, the willingness to receive preventive treatment was significantly lower among students from Nantong City (OR=0.005, 95%CI:0.000-0.063, P<0.001), Nanjing City (OR=0.022, 95%CI: 0.003-0.703, P<0.001) and Lianyungang City (OR=0.074, 95%CI:0.008-0.703, P=0.023). Conclusions The acceptance rate of preventive treatment among LTBI students in Jiangsu Province is not high and is affected by multiple factors. Health education and medication mobilization for preventive medication are essential.

OBJECTIVETo study the hypolipidemic active compounds from Crataegus pinnatifida and mechanism of action of those.

METHODGuided by the inhibitory activity to HMG-CoA reductase, the active compounds were separated and purified with macroporous resin and silica gel.

RESULTFour active compounds were obtained, which were quercetin, hyperoside, rutin and chlorogenic acid, the sum of their inhibitory rate was 50.01%, and the total inhibitory rate of the mixture of four active compounds matched was 79.48%.

CONCLUSIONQuercetin and hyperoside were the principle active components inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase in Hawthorn fruit, and there were synergistic action among them.

Crataegus ; chemistry ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl CoA Reductases ; analysis ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo determine the pharmacokinetics, distribution and mutual transformation of the total alkaloids, jatrorrhizine, coptisine, berberine and palmatine from Coptis chinensis in rats.

METHODAfter the total alkaloids and berberine were fed into rats, their contents in plasma, tissues and gastrointestinal tract were determined by reversed-phase HPLC.

RESULTThe peak times of berberine in blood were 2.0 h (Cmax 3.7 mg x L(-1)) and 5.0 h Cmax 2.8 mg x L(-1)), respectively. Berberine in rat blood can be transformed into jatrorrhizine. After the rats were fed with the total alkaloids by gavage, the content of berberine was decreased monotonously, while coptisine, palmatine and jatrorrhizine contents were increased gradually in the stomach, it speculated that berberine may be transformed into jatrorrhizine in the stomach. Animal experiments showed that berberine and palmatine were mainly distributed in the lungs of animals, followed by the distribution in the liver, while jatrorrhizine and coptisine was mainly in the liver, then in the lungs.

CONCLUSIONBerberine could transform into jatrorrhizine. The mechanism on the appearance of two maximum blood concentration of berberine in blood could be explained with the propulsion of the gastrointestinal tract partly.

Alkaloids ; metabolism ; pharmacokinetics ; Animals ; Biotransformation ; Coptis ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; metabolism ; pharmacokinetics ; Female ; Male ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tissue Distribution

Bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for patients with severe obesity, which can significantly improve the metabolic disorders, especially type 2 diabetes mellitus. Bariatric and metabolic surgery is the latest and fastest-growing branch of surgery, with the types of procedure and other novel treatment modalities are still evolving and in progress. The authors summarize the recent advancement related to novel bariatric and metabolic surgery in the treat-ment of morbid obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus in recent years through literature search, which can be divided into the following three parts: (1) novel surgical procedures and new guideline of indication. Sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass are the most performed bariatric surgery. Duodenal switch or the variant of one anastomosis duodenal ileostomy are also accredited procedures but been less performed. One anastomosis gastric bypass is the most recently accredited bariatric surgical procedures with better safety profile and weight loss efficacy than most of the procedures. For other novel procedures, bipartition procedure may be the next accredited proce-dure. A new worldwide guideline is recently launched and the indication for bariatric surgery is lowered BMI 27.5 kg/m 2 for Asian. (2) The effect and mechanism of bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery can significantly reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease and mortality in obese patients. The main beneficiary group is patients with diabetes mellitus. Along with the recent basic research and the success of new gut hormone related drugs, the mechanism of bariatric surgery can be mostly attributed to gut hormonal effect, however, gastric volume still play an important role. (3) Novel obesity treatment modalities. Endoscopic obesity treatment has a major progress in the success of endoscopic gastroplasty by endoscopic suturing designs. More noteworthy is the development of new intestinal hormone drug therapy, which can achieve a weight loss of 14% in one year by injec-ting once a week glucagon-like peptide-1 preparation, and then combining two or three intestinal hormone drugs can achieve a weight loss of 24% in one year, which is close to the effectiveness of bariatric surgery. Pharmacologic treatment of obesity is very promising and expected. With the increasing severity of obesity and diabetes mellitus in the world, in addition to the explosive develo-pment of bariatric and metabolic surgery in recent years, many new surgical methods and new treatments, especially new and effective intestinal hormone related therapeutic drugs, have been developed. The success of bariatric and metabolic surgery depends on a multidisciplinary team with rich clinical experience: precise preoperative planning and comprehensive postoperative manage-ment, as well as patient understanding and cooperation, in order to achieve the best results.

Objective:To explore the direct economic burden and factors affecting out-of-pocket direct costs of multidrug-/rifampicin-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis (MDR/RR-PTB) patients in Jiangsu Province.Methods:MDR/RR-PTB patients diagnosed and treated at 13 municipal tuberculosis (TB)-designated hospitals in Jiangsu Province between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2022, were included, and basic information and direct economic costs were obtained through questionnaires and hospital information systems. Stepwise multiple linear regression was used to analyze the factors influencing patients' out-of-pocket direct costs.Results:The age of the 233 MDR/RR-PTB patients was (44.04±15.64) years. The M( Q1, Q3) direct medical expense of the patients was 134 051.00 (98 934.01,163 205.73) Yuan, of which the M( Q1, Q3) reimbursement by health insurance or policy reduction was 100 462.10 (78 120.00,130 816.00) Yuan, and the M( Q1, Q3) out-of-pocket direct medical expense was 21 694.62 (14 734.83,37 813.00) Yuan. The M( Q1, Q3) direct non-medical expense was 4 971.00 (3 138.00,7 870.00) Yuan. Age, registered residence location, TB resulting in divorce or separation from spouse or partner, drug resistance test results, and treatment regimens were the influencing factors associated with out-of-pocket direct costs for MDR/RR-PTB patients. Conclusions:The direct economic burden caused by MDR/RR-PTB in Jiangsu Province is heavy. It is necessary to emphasize psychological guidance and care for MDR/RR-PTB patients, improve the diagnosis, treatment, and management of MDR/RR-PTB, and effectively reduce the economic burden of MDR/RR-PTB patients.

A three-dimensional(3D)medical image segmentation network(CA-SegResNet)which incorporates a 3D coordinate attention mechanism is proposed to address the issue of segmenting identified vertebral bones from spinal computed tomography(CT)images.The network extracts image features through a deep residual convolutional neural network and fuses the feature maps from each encoder layer with the input of the corresponding decoder layer.Subsequently,a 3D coordinate attention module is introduced to capture inter-channel relationships as well as directional and positional information,establishing long-range dependencies across different spatial directions,thereby enabling precise segmentation of the identified vertebral bones.For the segmentation tasks involving the identified cervical vertebra(the 7th cervical vertebra)and the identified thoracic vertebra(the 12th thoracic vertebra)across 105 cases,CA-SegResNet achieves average Dice similarity coefficients(DSC)of 0.934 5 and 0.918 9 on the test set,with average Hausdorff distances(HD)of 7 and 8 mm.Compared with U-Net results,the average DSC is improved by 0.014 5 and 0.0463,while average HD is reduced by 176 and 388 mm.The results demonstrate that the network can realize the precise segmentation of identified vertebral bones from CT images.

BACKGROUND: Management of gastric leak after sleeve gastrectomy (SG) is challenging due to its unpredictable outcomes. We aimed to summarize the characteristics of SG leaks and analyze interventions and corresponding outcomes in a real-world setting. METHODS: To retrospectively review of 15,721 SG procedures from 2010 to 2020 based on a national registry. A cumulative sum analysis was used to identify a fitting curve of gastric leak rate. The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank tests were performed to calculate and compare the probabilities of relevant outcomes. The logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the predictors of acute leaks. RESULTS: A total of 78 cases of SG leaks were collected with an incidence of 0.5% (78/15,721) from this registry (6 patients who had the primary SG in non-participating centers). After accumulating 260 cases in a bariatric surgery center, the leak rate decreased to a stably low value of under 1.17%. The significant differences presented in sex, waist circumference, and the proportion of hypoproteinemia and type 2 diabetes at baseline between patients with SG leak and the whole registry population ( P = 0.005, = 0.026, <0.001, and = 0.001, respectively). Moreover, 83.1% (59/71) of the leakage was near the esophagogastric junction region. Leakage healed in 64 (88.9%, 64/72) patients. The median healing time of acute and non-acute leaks was 5.93 months and 8.12 months, respectively. Acute leak (38/72, 52.8%) was the predominant type with a cumulative reoperation rate >50%, whereas the cumulative healing probability in the patients who required surgical treatment was significantly lower than those requring non-surgical treatment ( P = 0.013). Precise dissection in the His angle area was independently associated with a lower acute leak rate, whereas preservation ≥2 cm distance from the His angle area was an independent risk factor. CONCLUSIONS Male sex, elevated waist circumference, hypoproteinaemia, and type 2 diabetes are risk factors of gastric leaks after SG. Optimizing surgical techniques, including precise dissection of His angle area and preservation of smaller gastric fundus, should be suggested to prevent acute leaks.
Humans ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/complications* ; Obesity, Morbid ; Anastomotic Leak/epidemiology* ; Gastrectomy/methods* ; Reoperation/methods* ; Registries ; Laparoscopy/methods* ; Treatment Outcome