Objective:To explore the imaging manifestations of central nervous system aspergillosis (CNSAG).Methods:The cranial imaging changes of five CNSAG patients admitted to the First Medical Center of People′s Liberation Army General Hospital from 2013 to 2019 were analyzed and their imaging characteristics were summarized.Results:There were four males and one female with the minimum age of 20 years old and maximum age of 59 years old. Among the five cases, two cases mainly occurred in the cavernous sinus and three cases in the cerebral parenchyma. Long T 1-weighted and long T 2-weighted signals were observed in all the lesions of the cerebral parenchyma, while equal or short T 1-weighted, equal or long T 2-weighted signals were observed in the lesions of the cavernous sinus. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain of all cases showed multiple ring enhancement, which could form serrate or lace-like arrangement along the periphery of the lesion and gather together to form "honeycomb" enhancement characteristics. The degree of peripheral enhancement was more obvious, and the scope of enhancement increased after the disease was aggravated. High diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) signal can be seen in the ring enhanced focus, which is the MRI feature of abscess, and high DWI signal can be seen at the edge of the enhanced ring. Susceptibility weighted imaging showed low bleeding signal, no characteristic changes in the spectrum, and decreased perfusion in the central area. Computer tomography scan showed normal or equal density mass lesions, obvious edema or complicated infarction showed irregular low-density shadow, and bleeding showed high-density shadow. Conclusion:MRI showed mixed signal and circular enhancement, computer tomography showed normal or isodense mass lesions, or irregular low-density shadow, and bleeding signs could be found in CNSAG.

Objective:To investigate the role of NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) in lung injury caused by seawater drowning in mice.Methods:A total of 48 6-8 weeks old male wild-type C57 mice were randomly divided into two groups for experiment: (1) control group, day 1 group after drowning(Day1), day 3 group after drowning(Day3) and day 7 group after drowning(Day7) to determine the time point of seawater drowning; (2) control group, seawater drowning model group(SW), dimethyl fumarate treatment group(DMF) and seawater drowning+ DMF reatment group(SW+ DMF) to determine the role of Nrf2 in lung injury in mice caused by drowning, 6 mice per group. And 12 male C57 background Nrf2 knockout mice (Nrf2 KO) at 6-8 weeks old were divided into Nrf2 KO control group and Nrf2 KO+ seawater drowning group; 6 mice in each group. Three days after the drowning model was established, we observed the gross morphology and the pathological changes of the lung tissue, calculated the wet-to-dry weight ratio of the lungs, and tested the reduced glutathione and malondialdehyde levels.Results:Seawater drowning caused alveolar space rupture, pulmonary hemorrhage and pulmonary edema in mice. Compared with the wild-type mice, knockout of Nrf2 aggravated lung injury and oxidative stress in mice caused by seawater drowning. Nrf2 agonist DMF treatment significantly improved lung injury in mice, increased the reduced glutathione content, and decreased malondialdehyde level.Conclusion:The activation of Nrf2 can relieve lung injury and oxidative stress levels in mice caused by seawater drowning, which can play an important role in reducing lung damage caused by seawater drowning.

Objective:To investigate the role of NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) in lung injury caused by seawater drowning in mice.Methods:A total of 48 6-8 weeks old male wild-type C57 mice were randomly divided into two groups for experiment: (1) control group, day 1 group after drowning(Day1), day 3 group after drowning(Day3) and day 7 group after drowning(Day7) to determine the time point of seawater drowning; (2) control group, seawater drowning model group(SW), dimethyl fumarate treatment group(DMF) and seawater drowning+ DMF reatment group(SW+ DMF) to determine the role of Nrf2 in lung injury in mice caused by drowning, 6 mice per group. And 12 male C57 background Nrf2 knockout mice (Nrf2 KO) at 6-8 weeks old were divided into Nrf2 KO control group and Nrf2 KO+ seawater drowning group; 6 mice in each group. Three days after the drowning model was established, we observed the gross morphology and the pathological changes of the lung tissue, calculated the wet-to-dry weight ratio of the lungs, and tested the reduced glutathione and malondialdehyde levels.Results:Seawater drowning caused alveolar space rupture, pulmonary hemorrhage and pulmonary edema in mice. Compared with the wild-type mice, knockout of Nrf2 aggravated lung injury and oxidative stress in mice caused by seawater drowning. Nrf2 agonist DMF treatment significantly improved lung injury in mice, increased the reduced glutathione content, and decreased malondialdehyde level.Conclusion:The activation of Nrf2 can relieve lung injury and oxidative stress levels in mice caused by seawater drowning, which can play an important role in reducing lung damage caused by seawater drowning.

Objective To observe the changes of invasion and migration patterns and integrin expression of malignant glioma cells when Rac and Rho pathways are suppressed,respectively,in 3D hydrogel.Methods Liposome mediated pCMVLifeAct-TagGFP2 plasmids were transfected into glioma U87 cells,and then,these cells were divided into NSC23766 treatment group,Y-27632 treatment group,NSC23766 and Y-27632 combined treatment group,and control group.The three treatment groups were added NSC23766 (100 nmol/mL),Y-27632 (10 nmol/mL),100 nmol/mL NSC23766 and 10 nmol/mL Y-27632,respectively;the cells in the control group were added the same amount of medium.Cells were cultured in hydrogel;the composition of round cells,spindle cells and the mesenchymal and amoeboid cell movement transition were observed under confocal microscopy.The hydrogels of each group were infused into the microslide,and the cell chemotaxis effect were recorded and the cell movement velocities and distances were calculated in the living cell workstation.Immunofluorescence was used to observe the alternation ofintegrin expression.Results U87 cells cultured in 3D hydrogel exhibited spindle-like and round-like shapes,corresponding to mesenchymal and amoeboid cell movement.As compared with that in the control group,the proportion of round cells in the NSC23766 treatment group was significantly higher,and that of spindle cells in the Y-27632 treatment group was significantly higher (P＜0.05).The conversion rate ofmesenchymal-amoeboid transition was 50.0％ in NSC23766 treatment group and amoeboid mesenchymal transition was 42.8％ in Y-27632 treatment group as compared with that in the control group,with significant differences (P＜0.05).The velocity and distance of cells cultured in 3D hydrogel decreased orderly in NSC23766 treatment group,control group,Y-27632 treatment group and combined treatment group in chemotaxis test.The immunofluorescence test showed that integrin expression in the Y-27632 treatment group was significantly higher than that in the other three groups,and that in the control group was statistically higher than that in the NSC23766 treatment group and combined treatment group (P＜0.05).Conclusions 3D hydrogel can be used as a favorable substrate for cell culture.The combination targeted inhabitation of Rac 1 and RohA pathways provides theoretical basis for anti-invasion treatment against glioma.

Objective To understand the status of soil?transmitted nematode infections in rural residents so as to provide the evidence for formulating the guidance for prevention and control of the diseases. Methods The national surveillance sites of soil?transmitted nematode infections were established in Shuyang County,Suqian City,Jiangsu Province from 2006 to 2015. At least 1 000 fecal samples of residents aged 3 years or above were collected in every autumn,and the intestinal helminth eggs were detected with the Kato?Katz technique and the Enterubius vermicularis eggs were detected by the cellophane tape method for children aged 3-12 years. The soil samples were collected from vegetable fields,lavatories,courtyards and kitchens to exam?ine Ascaris lumbricoides eggs and larvae of hookworm. Results The infection rates of soil?transmitted nematodes in residents and E. vermicularis in children reduced from 1.81%(19/1 049)and 4.72%(5/106)in 2006 to 0.25%(3/1 180)and 0(0/263) in 2015,respectively,in the surveillance sites. The infection intensity was mild in all the infected cases. The soil samples were negative for detecting A. lumbricoides eggs and hookworm larvae. Conclusion The infection rates of soil?transmitted nema?todes in the residents and E. vermicularis in the children show a decreasing trend and keep at a low level of prevalence in Shuy?ang County.

Objective To investigate the antibiotic susceptibilities and the profiles of virulence genes of clinically isolated Salmonella enterica serovars Schwarzengrund ( S. Schwarzengrund) strains for bet-ter understanding the epidemiological trend of this type of non-typhoidal Salomonella and to provide guide-lines for the prevention and treatment of S. Schwarzengrund infection. Methods Stool samples and clinical data of patients with acute diarrhea who received treatment in the Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical Univer-sity during May, 2014 to October, 2014 were collected for this study. Enrichment culture and biochemical identification were used to isolate and identify the S. Schwarzengrund strains. The isolated strains were fur-ther analyzed with serotyping analysis, drug susceptibility test, pulsed field gel electrophoresis ( PFGE) and multiple locus sequence typing ( MLST ) . The representative genes carried by Salmonella pathogenicity islands (SPI) 1-5, SPI regulators and virulence plasmids were amplified by PCR. The coding genes of CdtB-islet, which were cdtB, pltA and pltB were amplified and sequenced. Results In total, 16 (14. 8%) out of 108 non-typhoidal Salmonella strains were identified as S. Schwarzengrund strains and all of them were sus-ceptible to 11 kinds of antibiotics such as fluoroquinolone, ampicillin, ceftriaxone and trimethoprim-sulfame-thoxazole. PFGE categorized the 16 S. Schwarzengrund strains into 3 clusters including A clone ( 14 strains), B clone (1 strain) and C clone (1 strain). The strains that isolated from 8 patients who ate the same food belonged to one cluster ( A clone ) , suggesting that it was an outbreak of infection. The 16 S. Schwarzengrund strains showed identical MLST type, which was ST241. The representative genes carried by SPI1-5 ( invA, sitC, hilA, sseL, sifA, mgtC, siiE and sopB) , the regulatory gene ( phoP) and the cytole-thal distending toxin islet (CdtB-islet) coding genes (cdtB, pltA and pltB) were positive, while the genes carried by virulence plasmids (pefA, prot6E and spvB) were negative. The similarities in CdtB-islet coding genes and amino acids sequences between Salmonella typhi and S. Schwarzengrund strains in this study were more than 97% and 98%, respectively. Conclusion In this study, polyclonal S. Schwarzengrund strains of ST241 type were isolated from the patients. They were susceptible to common antibiotics, but carried the virulence genes contained in SPI1-5 and CdtB-islet coding genes and might cause an outbreak of infection. Attention should be paid to the tendency and threat of clinical S. Schwarzengrund infection and continuous surveillance and investigation should be performed.

Objective To investigate the memory monitoring ability in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) and explore the mechanism of the memory impairment.Methods The feeling of knowing (FOK) paradigm of episodic memory (EM) and semantic memory (SM) were established and subsequently administered in 31 patients with IGE (IGE group) and 30 healthy controls (HC group) participants who were matched in age,sex and educational level.Results Compared with HC group (feeling of knowing of episodic memory (FOK-EM) FOK accuracy (85.29± 16.84) ％;feeling of knowing of sematic memory (FOK-SM) recall (76.61± 18.66) ％),the FOK-EM FOK accuracy ((64.03± 22.10) ％) and FOK-SM recall ((53.27±26.91) ％) in IGE group were significantly decreased(t=-4.215,P＜0.01;t=-3.677,P＜0.01).The correct judgment and correct recognition of FOK-EM ((51.16±32.93) ％) and the false judgment and correct recognition ((21.07±24.38) ％) of FOK-EM in the IGE group were significantly different with the HC group (the correct judgment and correct recognition of FOK-EM:(79.34±27.26)％ and the false judgment and correct recognition of FOK-EM:(2.45±5.38) ％;t=-3.634,P＜0.01;t=4.149,P＜0.01).Most importantly,the false judgment and correct recognition of FOK-EM were correlated with the Digital Span Test,Vocabulary Fluency Test and the Stroop effect in IGE group (r=-0.309,P＜0.05;r=-0.355,P＜0.01;r=-0.354,P＜0.05;r=0.602,P＜0.01).Conclusion The results show that the IGE group made less accurate metamemory monitoring than the HC group by underestimating their memoU performance on FOK-EM,whereas the semantic metamemory monitoring is not impaired in IGE group.More importantly,the impairment of memory monitoring was correlated with the deficit of executive function,indicating that this mechanism can be an influential factor of memory disorder in IGE.It also indicates that the episodic and semantic metamemory monitoring depend on different neural networks.

Objective To investigate the inhibitory effect of a disintegrin and metalloprotease 12 silenced by shR?NA on self-renewal capacity of CD133 positive giloma cells. Methods The shRNA recombinant lentivirus aimed at si?lencing ADAM12 was prepared. Human glioma cells U87 were employed in this study and assigned into three groups:shRNA-ADAM12, shRNA-NCandshRNA-C. ADAM12 expression was detected at mRNA and protein level using Re?al-time quantitative-PCR and western bloting, respectively. U87 cells were cultured with stem cell culture medium, to obtain cell sphere formation in which CD133 positive glioma cells were enriched. Immunofluorescence was employed to detect the expression of ADAM12 and CD133 in cell spheres and U87 cells; Self-renewal was tested by using tumor sphere formation assay. Molecular markers for differentiated or undifferentiated cells (CD133,GFAP and Tuj1) were de?tected at protein using western blotting. Western blotting was employed to test protein expression of HES1. Results AD?AM12 shRNA significantly down-regulated the mRNA and protein expression levels of ADAM12. Compared with shRNA–C group, the relative expression levels of mRNA in shRNA-ADAM12 group and shRNA-NC group were 0.22 ± 0.03 and 0.98 ± 0.06 (F=425.37,P<0.01). The relative expression levels of protein in shRNA-ADAM12 group, shRNA-NC group and shRNA-C group were 28.72%±2.36%, 69.21%±3.92%and 69.04%±3.57%, respectively (F=145.42,P<0.01). Immunofluorescence staining showed that expression levels of ADAM12 and CD133 in cell spheres were significantly higher than those in normal cells. The number of spheres in three groups were 45.5±2.3、104.2±5.8 and 109.6±6.2, tumor sphere formation ability of shRNA-ADAM12 group was lower than that of shRNA-NC group and shRNA-C group (F=147.03,P<0.01). Compared with the shRNA-NC group and shRNA-C group, the protain expression of GFAP and Tuj1 were increased up to 166% and 146% (P<0.01) whereas the protein expression levels of CD133 and HES1 were down-regulated by 54% and 50% (P<0.01). Conclusion Knockdown of ADAM12 may suppress self-renewal ability of CD133 positive glioma cells by inhibiting the Notch pathway activity.

Objective To investigate antimicrobial resistance and ceftriaxone resistance mechanisms in clinically isolated nontyphoidal Salmonella(NTS),and provide evidence for the prevention and control of NTS infection and rational use of antimicrobial agents.Methods 108 NTS isolates were isolated from stool specimens of outpatients with acute diarrhea in the Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University and Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from May to October of 2014,NTS were performed antimicrobial susceptibility testing;non-ceftriaxone-susceptible isolates were typed by serological,multilocus sequence (MLST),and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE)methods,extended-spectrumβ-lactamase (ESBL)detection and AmpC genes were detection.Results Among 108 NTS isolates,mono-drug resistance rate to 11 antimicrobial agents was 49.07% (n= 53),multidrug resistance rate was17.59% . Susceptibility rates to nalidixic acid,levofloxacin,ciprofloxacin,ceftriaxone,and ertapenem were 61.11% ,66.67% ,68.52% ,97.22% ,and 100.00% respectively. Three non-ceftriaxone-susceptible NTS isolates were detected,2 were ST11 Salmonellaenterica serotype (Sa8709,Sa8771),1 was ST34 Salmonellatyphimurium serotype(Sa8763). Cluster analysis of PFGE revealed that Sa8709 was highly similar to Sa8771 strains(91 .70% ), but the similarity to Sa8763 was low(55.80% );Sa8709 strain carried CTX-M gene,Sa8771 strain carried CTX-M and TEM genes,Sa8763 strain carried OXA gene. Conclusion Clinically isolated NTS in this area are low resistant to fluoroquinolones,multidrug resistant strains carrying ESBLs have emerged.

BACKGROUNDBu-Shen-Yi-Qi-Tang (BSYQT), which is prescribed on the basis of clinical experience, is commonly used in clinics of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for asthma treatment. The components of BSYQT include Radix Astragali (RA), Herba Epimedii (HE) and Radix Rehmanniae (RR). The aim of this study was to compare the effect of granules and herbs of BSYQT on airway inflammation in asthmatic mice.

METHODSSixty female BALB/c mice were randomly divided into the normal control (NC) group, asthmatic group (A), decoction of granules of BSYQT treatment group (GD), decoction of herbs of BSYQT treatment group (HD), and dexamethasone treatment group (DEX). The mouse asthmatic model was induced by ovalbumin (OVA) sensitization and challenge. GD and HD of BSYQT as well as DEX were prepared and administered by intragastric infusion. Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) to methacholine (Mch), lung histopathology analysis, inflammatory mediators in serum (IL-4, IL-5, IL-17A, IFN-γ, and eotaxin) and in lung (IL-4, IL-5, IFN-γ, and eotaxin) were selected for investigation and comparison.

RESULTSBoth GD and HD treatment could decrease airway resistance (RL) and increase dynamic compliance (Cdyn) to Mch compared with the A group (P < 0.05). HD treatment was more effective in RL reduction than Mch at doses of 3.125 and 6.25 mg/ml (P < 0.05) and in Cdyn increase at Mch doses of 6.25 and 12.5 mg/ml (P < 0.05). There were no marked differences in RL reduction and Cdyn improvement between mice in HD and DEX groups (P > 0.05). Both GD and HD treatment markedly attenuated lung inflammation (P < 0.05), and HD treatment demonstrated more significant therapeutic function in alleviating lung inflammation than that of GD and DEX treatment (P < 0.05). Both GD and HD treatment resulted in a significant reduction in IL-4 and IL-17A levels and an increase in the IFN-γ level in serum compared with the A group (P < 0.05). The effect of HD in lowering the IL-4 and IL-17A level was significantly greater than that of GD (P < 0.05), and was not significantly different from DEX (P > 0.05). HD treatment significantly reduced the serum level of IL-5 and eotaxin compared with the A group (P < 0.05), however, mice in the GD treatment group did not demonstrate this effect. GD and HD treatment significantly reduced IL-4 and eotaxin mRNA expression compared with the A group (P < 0.05). HD treatment significantly reduced IL-5 mRNA expression compared with the A group (P < 0.05). There was a significant difference between the GD and HD treatment groups in reducing IL-5 and eotaxin mRNA expression (P < 0.05). HD treatment was more effective in down-regulation of IL-5 in serum and eotaxin level both in serum and lung than DEX (P < 0.05). Compared with the A group, an obvious increase in mRNA expression of IFN-γ was observed in both the GD and HD treatment groups (P < 0.05). However, the effect of HD treatment on increase of IFN-γ mRNA expression was more apparent than GD and DEX treatment (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSBoth GD and HD treatment could decrease AHR, attenuate lung inflammation, reduce IL-4, IL-5, IL-17A, and eotaxin levels and increase IFN-γ levels in asthmatic mice. HD treatment manifests more remarkable inhibitory effects on asthmatic inflammation than GD treatment, which could provide a guide for further research on the screening of the material basis of the best anti-inflammatory effect of BSYQT.

Animals ; Asthma ; drug therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Inflammation ; drug therapy ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C