Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of nebulized inhalation of recombinant human interferon (IFN) α1b injection in the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) associated lower respiratory tract infections (pneumonia and bronchiolitis) in children.Methods:A randomized, double-blind, parallel, placebo-controlled add-on design was used.Children with pneumonia or bronchiolitis aged 2 months to 5 years who tested positive for RSV antigen within 72 hours of onset from 30 clinical trial sites including Beijing Children′s Hospital, Capital Medical University between February 2021 and December 2022 were included in this study and randomly divided into 2 groups at a ratio of 1∶1 based on a stratified-block method.Both groups received basic treatments such as cough control, asthma relieving, expectorant treatment, fever reduction, oxygen therapy, etc.The experimental group received additional nebulized inhalation of IFN α1b injection at a dose of 2.0 μg/(kg·time), twice a day.The control group received nebulized inhalation of placebo twice a day.Clinical efficacy was evaluated based on indicators such as the duration of clinical symptoms and signs, and the Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the median and 95% CI of the duration of clinical symptoms and signs.The Log-rank test was used to compared data between groups.Safety was assessed through the incidence of adverse reactions and laboratory tests, and the Chi-square test was used to analyze the difference between groups. Results:There were 123 children in the experimental group and 122 children in the control group.The median durations of all the 5 clinical symptoms and signs [including shortness of breath, wheezing, dyspnea (visible retractions), decreased transcutaneous oxygen saturation, and abnormal mental state] in the experimental group after treatment were slightly shortened than those in the control group [2.7 d(95% CI: 1.9-3.0 d)] vs.[2.9 d(95% CI: 2.6-3.6 d), P=0.027].The improvement in dyspnea (retractions) was especially pronounced in the experimental group, with a relief rate of 50.0% (0, 100%) on the first day of administration[compared with 0 (0, 50.0%) in the control group ( Z=2.002, P=0.025)].The median duration of dyspnea in the experimental group was nearly 1 day shorter than that in the control group [1.0 d(95% CI: 0.7-1.7 d) vs.1.8 d(95% CI: 1.0-2.5 d), P=0.046].There were no significant difference in hospital stay [6.0(5.0, 8.0) d vs.6.5(5.0, 8.0) d, Z=0.675, P=0.500], oxygen therapy duration [32.0(14.0, 96.3) h vs.39.0 (24.0, 83.2) h, Z=0.094, P=0.925], the recovery rate from clinical symptoms during treatment [(105/106, 99.1%) vs.(96/101, 95.0%)], and recurrence rate [(0/106, 0) vs.(2/101, 2.0%)] between the 2 groups (all P>0.05).However, the above-mentioned four indicators in the experimental group showed a trend of clinical benefits.The quantitative virus detection results showed that the RSV viral load in both groups decreased after treatment compared to before treatment.After 2 days of treatment, the decline rate of RSV viral load from the baseline was 0.90 lg copies/(mL·d) in the experimental group and 0.25 lg copies/(mL·d)in the control group, with a statistically significant difference ( P<0.05).Furthermore, there was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the 2 groups ( P>0.05).Importantly, no drug-related serious adverse reactions occurred in both groups. Conclusions:The nebulized inhalation therapy of IFN α1b demonstrates efficacy and safety in treating pediatric RSV associated lower respiratory tract infections.It particularly offers outstanding clinical therapeutic value for severe children.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of nebulized inhalation of recombinant human interferon (IFN) α1b injection in the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) associated lower respiratory tract infections (pneumonia and bronchiolitis) in children.Methods:A randomized, double-blind, parallel, placebo-controlled add-on design was used.Children with pneumonia or bronchiolitis aged 2 months to 5 years who tested positive for RSV antigen within 72 hours of onset from 30 clinical trial sites including Beijing Children′s Hospital, Capital Medical University between February 2021 and December 2022 were included in this study and randomly divided into 2 groups at a ratio of 1∶1 based on a stratified-block method.Both groups received basic treatments such as cough control, asthma relieving, expectorant treatment, fever reduction, oxygen therapy, etc.The experimental group received additional nebulized inhalation of IFN α1b injection at a dose of 2.0 μg/(kg·time), twice a day.The control group received nebulized inhalation of placebo twice a day.Clinical efficacy was evaluated based on indicators such as the duration of clinical symptoms and signs, and the Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the median and 95% CI of the duration of clinical symptoms and signs.The Log-rank test was used to compared data between groups.Safety was assessed through the incidence of adverse reactions and laboratory tests, and the Chi-square test was used to analyze the difference between groups. Results:There were 123 children in the experimental group and 122 children in the control group.The median durations of all the 5 clinical symptoms and signs [including shortness of breath, wheezing, dyspnea (visible retractions), decreased transcutaneous oxygen saturation, and abnormal mental state] in the experimental group after treatment were slightly shortened than those in the control group [2.7 d(95% CI: 1.9-3.0 d)] vs.[2.9 d(95% CI: 2.6-3.6 d), P=0.027].The improvement in dyspnea (retractions) was especially pronounced in the experimental group, with a relief rate of 50.0% (0, 100%) on the first day of administration[compared with 0 (0, 50.0%) in the control group ( Z=2.002, P=0.025)].The median duration of dyspnea in the experimental group was nearly 1 day shorter than that in the control group [1.0 d(95% CI: 0.7-1.7 d) vs.1.8 d(95% CI: 1.0-2.5 d), P=0.046].There were no significant difference in hospital stay [6.0(5.0, 8.0) d vs.6.5(5.0, 8.0) d, Z=0.675, P=0.500], oxygen therapy duration [32.0(14.0, 96.3) h vs.39.0 (24.0, 83.2) h, Z=0.094, P=0.925], the recovery rate from clinical symptoms during treatment [(105/106, 99.1%) vs.(96/101, 95.0%)], and recurrence rate [(0/106, 0) vs.(2/101, 2.0%)] between the 2 groups (all P>0.05).However, the above-mentioned four indicators in the experimental group showed a trend of clinical benefits.The quantitative virus detection results showed that the RSV viral load in both groups decreased after treatment compared to before treatment.After 2 days of treatment, the decline rate of RSV viral load from the baseline was 0.90 lg copies/(mL·d) in the experimental group and 0.25 lg copies/(mL·d)in the control group, with a statistically significant difference ( P<0.05).Furthermore, there was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the 2 groups ( P>0.05).Importantly, no drug-related serious adverse reactions occurred in both groups. Conclusions:The nebulized inhalation therapy of IFN α1b demonstrates efficacy and safety in treating pediatric RSV associated lower respiratory tract infections.It particularly offers outstanding clinical therapeutic value for severe children.

BACKGROUND: Chronic rejection limits the long-term success of cardiac transplantation and the underlying causes of the disease are unknown. Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is considered as a mitogenic and chemotactic factor for fibroblasts and is associated with cell proliferation and collagen synthesis.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role and significance of expression of CTGF in rat chronic rejection heart aliografta.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: A randomized controlled animal experiment was performed at the Laboratory Animal Center of the Second Xiangya Hospital between April and August 2007.MATERIALS: Twenty Wistar rats serving as donors and twenty Sprague-Dawely (SD) rats serving as recipients were included. An additional 10 Wistar rats were included as controls.METHODS: After intra-abdominal heterotopic heart transplantations, rats received cyclosporine A, mycophenolate, and methylprednisolone immunosuppression. Ten recipient rats were anesthetized and sacrificed for heart harvesting at 2 and 8 weeks postoperation, respectively.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Coronary vessel density, fibrosis grade, and intimal occlusion were observed by hematoxylin-cosin staining and Van Gieson staining. Myocardial fibrosis was semi-quantitatively scored. CTGF expression was detected by immunohistochemistry. The associations between CTGF expression and allograft fibrosis and CAV formation were analyzed.RESULTS: Allografts harvested at 8-week post-surgery showed more obvious coronary intimal proliferation, fibrosis and higher CTGF expression compared with the 2-week allografts and the controls (P < 0.05-0.01 ) while the cardiac artery density was lower than the control group (P < 0.05). However, the control group in our study showed negligible CTGF expression. There were strong negative correlations between the gray value of CTGF protein expression and cardiac fibrosis and coronary intimal occlusion (r = -0.734, -0.713, P < 0.01), demonstrating that CTGF protein expression was positively correlated with cardiac fibrosis and coronary intimal occlusion.CONCLUSION: CTGF is expressed in cardiac myocyte with CAV. The increased expression of CTGF in the cardiac allograft is associated with CAV development and fibrosis formation and is involved in the pathogenesis of cbronic heart rejection

Objective To detect the expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in acute heart allograft rejection in rats and to investigate the relationship between CTGF expression and cardiac allograft fibrosis. Methods Sixteen Wister rats served as donors and another 16 Sprague-Dawely (SD) rats served as recipients. Intra-abdominal heterotopic heart transplantation was performed. All rats received 10 mg/(kg·d) cyclosporine,40 mg/(kg·d)CellCept, and 3 mg/(kg·d)methylprednisolone immunosuppression after the surgery. Ten allografts were harvested 2 weeks postoperation while 10 normal Wister rats served as controls. The paraffin sections of harvested heart specimens were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE),and van Gieson(VG) for the examination of morphological changes to observe the lumen loss of myocardial coronary arteries and myocardial fibrosis. The expression of CTGF was studied by immunnohistochemical method and was measured semi quantitatively. The correlation between the CTGF expression and allograft fibrosis was studied. Results The allografts showed a typical symbol of acute rejection with excessive granulocyte infiltration around the vessel wall and myocardial interstice. There were also intimal proliferation and obvious fibrosis in the acute group and the differences between the acute and control group were significant (P<0.05). The expression of CTGF protein was mainly located around the vascular and myocardial lesions in the acute group while the control group showed no CTGF expression. The gray scale value of CTGF was (AR vs NH: 103.52±6.42 vs. 182.61±8.72,P<0.05). Strong negative correlations were found between the gray scale value and fibrosis formation(r=-0.734,P<0.01). Conclusion CTGF was overexpressed in acute allograft rejection rat hearts and might be involved in the pathogenesis of transplanted heart fibrosis.

AIM: To determine the distribution and frequency of functionally important allelic variants in the cytochromes P450 (CYP) 2C19, arylamine N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2), and thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) genes in the Han Chinese population and compare them with those of other ethnic populations.METHODS: Genotyping was carried out in a total of 210 unrelated Han Chinese volunteers derived from He-nan area. CYP2C19 variants ( * 2 and * 3), NAT2 variants ( * 6 and * 7), and TPMT variants ( * 3A, * 3B, and * 3C) were detected using polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP)assays. Detection of NA T2 * 5 and TPMT * 2 were performed using allele-specific polymerase chain reaction assays. RESULTS: Allele frequencies of CYP2C19 * 2 and * 3 occurred with 34.76 % and 6.4 %, respectively.Thirty-one persons ( 14.8 % ) carried two of these CYP2C19 alleles responsible for poor metabolizing activity.The frequencies of specif ic NAT2 alleles were 59.1%, 4.1%, 26.4 %, and 9.5 % for * 4 (wild-type), * 5(341C), * 6 (590A), and * 7 (857A), respectively. Genotyping of three different single nucleotide polymorphisms in the NA T2 gene revealed that the frequency of slow acetylators was 19.5 %. TPMT * 3C had an allelic frequency of 1.2 %. TPMT* 2, TPMT * 3A, or TPMT* 3B was not detected in the analysed samples. CONCLUSION: The overview of allele distribution for drug-metabolizing enzymes CYP2C19, NAT2, and TPMT among a Han Chinese population shows obvious difference to Caucasians. The data will be useful for clinical pharmacokinetic investigation and drug dosage administration to Han Chinese population.

AIM: To establish HPLC fingerprint of Viticis Fructus. METHODS: Hypersi ODS2 column was used, with mixtures of methanol and water as mobile phase in a gradient mode. The detection wavelength was set at 270 nm . The flow rate was 1.0 mL ?min -1 . RESULTS: The RSD% of precision and reproducibility was less than 5%. CONCLUSION: The method can be used for quality control of Viticis Fructus