Objective To investigate the MRI appearances of postpartum posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES). Methods The clinical and radiological data of 8 patients with postpartum PRES were analyzed retrospectively, 5 cases were 1 week after postpartum,2 cases were 2 weeks afterpostpartum, 1 case was 4 weeks after postpartum. All cases underwent MRI examination, checking sequence included T,WI,T2WI,FLAIR,DWI,SWI, and 4 of them underwent MR venography (MRV). Results MRI showed basal bilaterally symmetrical distributions of lesions, mainly located in subcortex and cortex of cerebral hemisphere and predominantly in the occipital lobe,the lesions appeared as hyperintensity on FLAIR and T2WI,isointensity or mildly hypointensity on T1WI,hyperintensity on DWI. MRI in 8 patients demonstrated multiple lesions located in bilateral parietal lobe (8 cases),bilateral occipital lobe (8 cases), bilateral frontal lobe ( 4 cases ), bilateral temporal lobe (6 cases ), bilateral tempura-occipital lobe ( 8 cases),splenium of corpus callosum(l case), bilateral basal ganglia (l case), bilateral oval center( 1 case), bilateral cerebellar hemisphere (1 case), left frontal lobe hemorrhage (l case). Five patients' follow-up scan showed decreased or disappeared abnormal signals. Conclusion MRI examination scan identify the location, quality and degree, meanwhile, analyze the pathological foundation of postpartum PRES, which conduces to guiding treatment and preventing complication.

0.75).Conclusions The method of single-slice and multi-slice TSE sequence in T_2 measurement is feasible.For bone marrow and extremely long T_2 tissue(for instance,cerebrospinal fluid),however,there may be considerable discrepancy on T_2 values obtained by TSE sequence.

To study the chemical constituents of Asarum himalaicum, fifteen compounds were isolated from a 70% ethanol extract by using a combination of various chromatographic techniques including column chromatography over silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and semi-preparative HPLC. By spectroscopic techniques including 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HR-ESI-MS, these compounds were identified as 4-demethoxyaristolochic acid BII (1), aristolochic acid I (2), aristolochic acid Ia (3), 7-hydroxyaristolochic acid I (4), aristolochic acid IV (5), aristolic acid II (6), debilic acid (7), aristololactam I (8), 9-hydroxyaristololactam I (9), 7-methoxyaristololactam IV (10), (2S)-narigenin-5, 7-di-O-beta-D-pyranosylglucoside (11), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (12), 3, 4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (13), 4-hydroxycinnamic acid (14), and beta-sitosterol (15). All of these compounds (1-15) were obtained from A. himalaicum for the first time. Among them, 1 was identified as a new compound, and compounds 3-6, 9, 12-14 were isolated from Asarum genus for the first time. Since the kidney toxicity of aristolochic acids and aristololactams has been reported, the result of this investigation suggests that it should be cautioned to use A. himalaicum as a medicine.

Adult ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage ; methods ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pneumoconiosis ; therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

The blood concentrations of the pharmacodynamic substances of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) are usually very low. How can they exert pharmacological actions, in which forms (original form, metabolite or the both) do they exert the actions. To answer these questions, we proposed a new concept ofEffective Formsof pharmacodynamic substances of TCMs and a hypothesis of additive effect of multiple constituents of TCMs. The hypothesis includes that the aggregate or summation of Effective Forms of pharmacodynamic substances of TCMs is the core material base of the effi-cacy of TCMs, and the additive effect of the blood concentrations of different Effective Forms is one part of the action mechanism. The additive effect of the different Effective Forms of a TCMs means an additive effect of numerous con-stituents or/and metabolites on a same target, and therefore the efficacy brought by the addition of the concentrations of all these compounds, which different from the synergy effect of multi-constituents on multi-targets. Studies on the disposition of TCMs showed that a constituent can be biotransformed to many metabolites (up to more than 50 metabolites);different constituents can produce the same metabolites;many metabolites (up to 10 compounds for each metabolite) are isomers or homologues; some constituents can be converted to each other in vivo; and some metabolites are bioactive. These com-pounds having the similar structure are likely to have the same pharmacological effects on the same target, which could provide experimental evidences for the concept ofEffective Formsand the hypothesis ofAdditive Effect. We suggest that the Effective Forms and Additive Effects of the pharmacodynamic substances of TCMs should be extensively investi-gated in the future, and the results of such researches will help us further understand the pharmacodynamic substances and action mechanism of TCMs, and give a new explanation 'Toxicities Scattering Effect' for 'Why the toxicities of TCMs are low', and propose a new strategy for quality control of TCMs.

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Occupational Diseases ; Organometallic Compounds ; poisoning

Objective To study the gene mutations and clinical features of mandibuloacral dysplasia with type A lipodystrophy (MADA) in a Chinese family. Methods The information of 5 family members including 2 siblings suspected atyp-ical progeria was assembled. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood of 5 family members, the 12 exons of LMNA gene were ampliifed by PCR and then the PCR products were directly sequenced and analyzed by using Blast software online. The SIFT and PolyPhen-2 software were used to predict the harmfulness of mutations. Results The 2 siblings were clinically diagnosed as MADA. Heterozygous c.1579C>T (p.Arg527Cys) and c.1583C>T (p.Thr528Met) mutations were detected in this family. The father carried c.1583C>T (p.Thr528Met) mutation, the mother carried c.1579C>T (p.Arg527Cys) mutation, and their normal daughter were all heterozygous carriers with c.1583C>T (p.Thr528Met) mutation. Compound heterozygous c.1579C>T (p.Arg527Cys) and c.1583C>T (p.Thr528Met) mutations in 2 siblings led to MADA. The MADA showed an autosomal re-cessive inheritance pattern in this family. Conclusions The 2 siblings with MADA in this family were caused by compound heterozygous mutations in LMNA gene.

ObjectiveTo report the results of preventive control program of severe thalassemias in Zhuhai City of Guangdong Province from 1998 to 2010.MethodsAs the guide centre of marriage and childbearing and the greatest maternity hospital in Zhuhai City of Guangdong Province,Zhuhai Municipal Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital constructed the genetic screening network for thalassemias testing and referred for follow-up and for genetic counseling.The couples for premarital medical examination or regular healthcare examination in pregnancy were enrolled to this preventive control program.A conventional strategy of screening for heterozygote was used to identify the α- and β-thalassemia traits in women and their spouses according to the standard procedures of hematological phenotype analysis which was recommended by Thalassemia International Federation (T IF).Then those suspected couples at risk were diagnosed for α- and β-thalassemia by PCR-based DNA assays.The couples at risk for severe thalassemias were counseled and offered prenatal diagnosis and termination of pregnancy in case of an affected fetus in the rights of consent and of option voluntarily.ResultsFrom January 1998 to December 2010,85 522 brides and grooms-to-be for premarital screening and 41 503 pregnant women in addition to 14 141 partners for prenatal screening were recorded,the covering rates of premarital screening and prenatal screening in the city were 92.698％ (from 1998 to 2003) and 27.667％ (from 2004 to 2010),respectively.Totally 10 726 cases were found to be the carriers of thalassemias,with 7393 for o-thalassemia (5.237％,7 393/141 166) and 3333 for β-thalassemia (2.361％,3 333/141 166).A total of 257 couples at-risk for severe thalassemias were detected including 190 for α-thalassemia and 67 for β-thalassemia.Among them,251 (97.7％,251/257) couples were performed prenatal diagnosis.During the preventive control program,a total of 72 fetuses with severe thalassemias including hemoglobin H disease were voluntarily terminated.In Zhuhai City,the average annual birth rate of fetuses with severe thalassemia was declined by 32.9％ (49/149).ConclusionsThis study has reduced effectively birth rate of perinatal infants with severe thalassemias in Zhuhai City by genetic screening and prenatal diagnosis of thalassemia in the large population of 13 years.Our summary comes out of technical proposals for prenatal screening and diagnosis,which could be take example by preventative control of thalassemia in other regions of China where are prevalent.