BACKGROUND: During thoracolumbar anterior operation, implant collapse is an important factor for affecting outcome in patients with thoracolumbar fracture. In particular, osteoporotic patients commonly developed implant collapse, nail channel loose, bone disunion, kyphosis deformation. Bioactive artificial vertebrae of nano-hydroxyapatite and polyamide 66 (n-HA/PA66) has good biocompatibility and biological safety and is an ideal substitute for vertebral body bone graft. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy of the bioactive artificial verteificial vertebrae of nano-hydroxyapatite and polyamide 66 (n-HA/PA66) for osteoporotic thoracolumbar burst fracture. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: A retrospective case analysis was conducted at the Department of Spinal Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College from January 2004 to January 2008. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 20 patients with moderate and severe osteoporotic thoracolumbar fracture (6 males and 14 females) aged 51 -82 years, with an average of 69 years were enrolled in this study. There were 17 cases of fresh fracture and 3 cases of old fracture. n-HAyPA66 was produced by the Sichuan Guona Science and Technology Co., Ltd. This artificial vertebral body was in 10-35 mm diameter, 30-100 mm length, circular cylinder shape, 3-12 mm midheaven diameter, 2.5-6.5 mm tubal wall thickness, with the presence of 2 mm holes surrounding the vertebral body. The contact area of the vertebral body was 78.5-176.7 mm2. Fixity was anterior nail plate system (titanium alloy material) produced by Foshan Shitaibao Company. METHODS: Following conventional tracheal intubation and general anesthesia, at right arm recumbent, according to various fracture-involved segments, different regions were incised and treated with anterior decompression, implanted with artificial vertebrae with the bioactive artificial verteificial vertebrae n-HA/PA66 and fixed with steel plate. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Fracture healing and implant loose were observed by radiograph. Cobb angle, the height of damaged vertebral body and spinal cord function score were compared prior to surgery, 3 months following surgery and the last follow-up. RESULTS: All the patients were successfully operated. Bleeding 200-800 mL during surgery and operation time ranged from 2.0 to 3.0 hours. There were 1 case of pulmonary infection and 1 case of delayed wound healing. A total of 20 patients were followed up for 6-42 months (averagely 18 months). Postoperative radiograph review demonstrated that closed vertebral body was healed three to four months. No significant displacement of implant was found. There was less loss of reestablished vertebral body height. Internal fixation position was good, without nail breakdown or internal fixation loose/displacement. At 3 months following surgery, significant differences in Cobb angle, the height of damaged vertebral body and spinal cord function score were detected compared with that before surgery (P < 0.05). No significant difference in postoperative two follow-up was detected (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The bioactive artificial vertebrae of n-HA/PA66 can increase the fusion area, reduce local pressure and prevent loosening of implants and sinking into the vertebrae, finally resulting in restoration of vertebral body height.

BACKGROUND: Current commonly used bone graft materials include cancellous bone or bone blocks from ilium, tibia, fibula and others. There is no report of bone graft and fusion in cervical spine from manubrium sterni. OBJECTIVE: To measure lateral X-ray of cervical vertebrae with no degeneration and manubrium sterni samples to explore feasibility of autologous cancellous bone graft of manubrium sterni with pyramesh in anterior cervical spinal fusion surgery, so as to develop a new source of autogenous bone graft.METHODS: A total of 40 manubrium sterni specimens were selected and the length, maximum width and minimum width, thickness, anterior and posterior cortex thickness of manubrium sterni were measured. Manubrium sterni area was calculated: the length, maximum width and minimum width were 4 mm reduced from those of manubrium sterni, its thickness was 2 mm reduced from that of manubrium sterni. The formula of measuring the manubrium sterni volume is (maximum width of manubrium sterni + the minimum width of manubrium sterni)×length of manubrium sterni × thickness of manubrium sterni×1/2. Intervertebral height and vertebral height from C2 to C7 were measured from lateral cervical radiograph of 106 patients with cervical radiolopathy, and the length of pyramesh needed in anterior cervical spinal surgery for one, two, three discs resection, one vertebra plus two discs resection and two vertebrae plus three discs resection was calculated. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The manubrium sterni volume was (17 735.51±5 234.92) mm3 and the volume of bone-grafting area was (8 982.83±2 427.76) mm3. The length of pyramesh and volume of bone used in operation were minimal for one disc resection, and maximal for two vertebrae plus three discs resection. The volume of bone graft in the pyramesh was significantly less than the donor area in any anterior cervical spinal fusion operation. Results show that autologous cancellous graft of manubrium sterni combined with pyramesh supporting can be used in anterior cervical spinal fusion surgery. Compared with autologous iliac graft, this method is simpler and does not influence early functional exercise or walking bearing weight.

Objective To measure the morphological parameters of cervical endplate of Chinese by using computed tomography (CT)scans,and to provide an accurate morphometric basis for designing and developing the cervical disc prostheses.Methods 80 healthy subjects were scanned by CT.The parameters of each cervical vertebra from C3 to C7 were measured by CT scans including upper anteroposterior length (APLu),upper center mediolateral length (CMLu),lower anteroposterior length (APLl) and lower center mediolateral length (CMLl).These parameters were compared between genders and among different vertebral levels.Results The values of APLu, CMLu,APLl and CMLl were increased with the decreasing of cervical segment (P APLu = 0.023,P CMLu = 0.007, P APLl =0.035,P CMLl < 0.001).There was statistically significant difference in morphological parameters between genders (P < 0.05).Compared with the reported data of other different populations,the statistically significant difference in morphological parameters also existed in the study.Conclusion The study provides an accurate morphological basis for designing the suitable artificial cervical disc for Chinese population.

lacZα-mini-attTn7 was inserted into the intergenic region between the gG and gD genes in a PRV bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) by homologous recombination in E. coli. The resulting recombinant BAC (pBeckerZF1) was confirmed by PCR and sequencing. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene was then transposed into pBeckerZF1 by transposon Tn7 to generate pBeckerZF2. Recombinant viruses vBeckerZF1 and vBeckerZF2 were generated by transfection with the corresponding BAC pBeckerZF1 or pBeckerZF2. The titers and cytopathic effect (CPE) observed for by vBeckerZF1 and vBeckerZF2 was comparable to that of the parental virus vBecker3. vBeckerZF2 was serial passaged for five rounds in cell culture, and the mini-Tn7 insertion was stably maintained in viral genome. These results show that recombinant viruses can be rapidly and reliably created by Tn7-mediated transposition. This technology should accelerate greatly the pace at which recombinant PRV can be generated and, thus, facilitate the use of recombinant viruses for detailed mutagenic studies.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the incidence, clinical features and the predisposing factors of fungal septicemia, and investigate the risk factors for death due to fungal septicemia and the prognosis of the patients.

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 91 patients with fungal septicemia diagnosed in the last 17 years, including 60 patients with clinical cure or improvement, and 31 who die of the disease. Based on the results by univariate analysis, the data were analyzed using logistic multiple regression and Fisher's discriminant analysis.

RESULTSFungal septicemia had many predisposing factors with high mortality rate. Univariate analysis revealed significant differences between the cured/improved cases and the fatal cases for 12 variables, including advanced age, complication by bacterial infection, septic shock, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), ICU patients, cortical hormone therapy, surgery, chemotherapy, use of immunopotentiating agents, length of hospital stay before antifungal therapy, time of anti-fungus therapy and types of invasive procedures. Logistic multiple regression analysis showed that the types of invasive procedures, MODS, surgery and prolonged hospital stay before antifungal therapy were the independent risk factors for fungal septicemia-related death. Fisher's linear discriminant equation was established for predicting the prognosis of the disease.

CONCLUSIONThe types of invasive procedure, MODS, surgery and prolonged hospital stay before antifungal therapy are the independent risk factors for fungal septicemia-related death, and the patients' prognosis can be predicted using Fisher's linear discriminant equation.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antifungal Agents ; therapeutic use ; Cause of Death ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Fungemia ; diagnosis ; etiology ; mortality ; therapy ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Models, Theoretical ; Prognosis ; Regression Analysis ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Young Adult

Objective To analyze the efficacy of the combination of MALDI-TOF and immunoadsorption to detect new biomarkers for lupus. Methods Twenty lupus patients at active stage (SLE group), 10 SLE patients in remission (SLE control group), 10 RA patients and 10 PSS patients (other rheumatic disease control group) and 20 healthy volunteers (healthy control group) were enrolled. The serum samples before and after immunoadsorption from SLE group and those from the control groups were co-incubated with activated chitosan copper derivative nano material. The adsorbed nano material was spotted onto the matrix used in MALDI-TOF for analysis by the Axima-CFR plus MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer. T-test was used for statistical analysis. Results MALDI-TOF MS screening showed that three potential protein biomarkers of mass-to-charge (m/z) ratio 3136, 3264, 3326 were found to be very specific for lupus patients: All of them were expressed before immunoadsorption in high quantity and none of them could be detected both after immunoadsorption and in all the three control groups. None of them (<10 000) were in the molecular weight range of the biomarkers used nowadays such as auto antibodies and complement (>50 000). Conclusion The combination of MALDI-TOF and immunoadsorption is effective in the detection of new serum protein biomarkers for lupus and it may be helpful in the screening of SLE patients at active stage from healthy people.

Ascites ; Bacterial Infections ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Peritonitis ; microbiology ; Risk Factors

LG1 strain of avian influenza virus H9N2 was passaged continuously for 40 generations in chicken embryos with anti-LG1 maternal antibodies in 4 parallel experiments, of which 3 experiments had a stable mutation of "G" to "A" at #99 of the neuraminidase gene(NA)from the 20th passage resulting in a change of Met to Ile and 2 had a stable mutation of "A" to "G" at #473 of the NA gene from the 30th passage resulting in a change of Asn to Ser which occurred in the 50th passage of another experiment. Eighty continuous passages in chicken embryos without antibody did not have the same mutation, indicating that the mutations of the 2 positions were associated with selective pressure of antibodies. Analysis of the ratios of nonsynonium (NS) vs synonium (S) mutations of nucleic acids demonstrated that NS/S of 4 parallel experiments with antibodies was 4.6 (32/7) compared with 2.0 (16/8) of the 2 experiments without antibodies and this significant difference implied the selective pressure of antibodies.
Animals ; Antibodies, Viral ; immunology ; Chick Embryo ; Influenza A Virus, H9N2 Subtype ; genetics ; immunology ; Mutation ; Neuraminidase ; genetics

The purpose of this study was to compare the whole genome sequences and replication dynamics in cell cultures of two Avian leukosis viruses of subgroup B (ALV) isolates, SDAU09E3 and SDAU09C2. Comparison of the amino acid sequences indicated that the gp85 identity of these two subgroup B isolates was 95.4%, the identity with other three ALV-B reference strains was 91.0%-94.9%, and less than 87.9% with ALV subgroup A, C, D, E and J. Comparison of the nucleotide sequence of gag and pol genes indicated that homologies of gag gene and pol gene of these two ALV-B isolates with all compared reference strains of different subgroups were above 93%. Homologies of LTR sequence of these two ALV-B isolates with other exogenous ALVs subgroups A, B, C, D and J were 72.6%-88.3%, but only 51.5% when compared with endogenous ALV subgroup E. The identity of LTR between these two ALV-B strains was only 74.8%, which was far lower than the identity of other genes. The identity of U3 region of LTR between these two ALV-B isolates was only 68.8% and there were obvious differences in the number CAAT Boxes. Replication dynamics in DF-1 cell indicated that the value of TCID50 was similar between 2 isolates but the concentration of nucleocapsid protein p27 antigen of SDAU09E3 was significantly higher than SDAU09C2 in cell culture supernatant, which indicated there was no parallel relationship between p27 antigen concentration and infectious virus particles. Whether such difference was resulted from the diversity of U3 region of LTR, further studies with their recombinant infectious clones is necessary.
Animals ; Antibodies, Viral ; immunology ; Avian Leukosis Virus ; classification ; genetics ; physiology ; Base Sequence ; Cell Line ; Cells, Cultured ; Chick Embryo ; Chickens ; Genome, Viral ; genetics ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Poultry Diseases ; virology ; Sequence Alignment ; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid ; Viral Matrix Proteins ; genetics ; Virus Replication ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of prenatal stress (PNS) on kinetic properties of high-voltage-activated (HVA) Ca(2+) channel in freshly isolated offspring rat hippocampal CA3 pyramidal neurons.

METHODSThe pregnant rats were exposed to restraint stress, and the hippocampal CA3 pyramidal neurons were freshly isolated from the offspring rats to record voltage-gate Ca(2+) channel currents in these neurons using whole-cell configuration of patch-clamp technique.

RESULTSPNS significantly increased HVA calcium current density and integral current but did not alter the steady-state activation and steady-state inactivation properties of HVA Ca(2+) channel in the offspring rat CA3 neurons. The maximal HVA calcium current density was -40.89-/+0.31 pA/pF in the control group (n=10) and -49.44-/+0.37 pA/pF in PNS group (n=8, P<0.01). The maximal integral current of the HVA Ca(2+) channel was 106.81-/+4.20 nA*ms in the control group (n=10) and 133.49-/+2.59 nA*ms in the PNS group (n=8, P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONMaternal exposure to stress during the critical phase of pregnancy may result in long-lasting effects on the ion channels of the hippocampal neurons in the offspring rats.

Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Calcium Channels ; physiology ; Female ; Hippocampus ; cytology ; Kinetics ; Male ; Membrane Potentials ; physiology ; Patch-Clamp Techniques ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications ; psychology ; Pyramidal Cells ; cytology ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Restraint, Physical ; psychology ; Stress, Psychological ; physiopathology