Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and infection are the frequently encountered complications after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), which influence the outcome and limit the widespread application of HSCT. Intestinal microbiota plays an important role in maintaining intestinal immune balance. The diverse levels of intestinal microbiota associated with the incidences of GVHD, infection and the prognosis of HSCT, thus remodeling intestinal microbiota can alleviate GVHD and infection after HSCT. Herein, the recent research progress about the role and the involved mechanisms of intestinal microbiota in HSCT, and the novel manipulation strategies of intestinal microbiota are systematically reviewed.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of semen-derived enhancer of virus infection (SEVI) on the infection of transmitted/founder (TF) HIV-1 and its matched chronic control (CC) viruses and the antagonism of ADS-J1 on SEVI-mediated enhancement of TF and CC virus infection in vitro.

METHODSPAPself-assembling into SEVI amyloid fibrils was validated by ThT assay. We generated the virus stocks of TF and CC virus pair. TZM-bl cells were infected with the mixture of SEVI and TF or CC viruses for 72 h. Luciferase activity was used to observe the enhancement of SEVI. SEVI was treated with different concentrations of ADS-J1 and incubated with TF or CC viruses. TZM-bl cells were then infected with the mixture and luciferase activity was detected 72 h after infection to analyze the antagonism of ADS-J1 on the enhancing effect of SEVI. ADS-J1 was also incubated with TF and CC viruses directly and TZM-bl cells were infected for 72 h to evaluate the antiviral effect using luciferase assay. SEVI was treated with ADS-J1 and Zeta potential was determined to explore the antagonistic mechanism of ADS-J1.

RESULTSThT assay showed that PAPwas capable of self-assembly into SEVI amyloid fibrils. SEVI significantly accelerated TF and CC viruses infection (P<0.05), and ADS-J1 not only significantly antagonized the enhancement of SEVI (P<0.05) but also directly inhibited the infection of TF and CC viruses (P<0.05). ADS-J1 neutralized the positive charge of SEVI in a dose-dependent manner.

CONCLUSIONSSEVI promotes the infection of TF and CC strains, and ADS-J1 antagonizes SEVI-mediated enhancement of TF and CC viruses by neutralizing the positive charge of SEVI.

OBJECTIVETo establish a method for gene delivery in murine renal tissue using lentivirus vector encoding miR-483-5p.

METHODSThirty-five C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into control group, low-dose treatment group (5 µL each kidney) , and high?dose treatment group (20 µL each kidney), and in the latter two groups, the lentivirus vector encoding miR-483-5p were injected in the renal cortex. The tissue samples were collected at 7 and 21 days after the injection. A transgenic mouse model with inducible systemic overexpression of miR-483-5p was established in TG483 mice. The Cre-loxp system was used to create a mouse model with renal tubule-specific expression of miR-483-5p. The levels of BUN in the mice were detected and HE staining and fluorometric TUNEL assay were used to observe the morphological changes of the kidneys; real-time qPCR was used to detect miR-483-5p expression in the renal cortex.

RESULTSThe mice with overexpression of miR-483-5p had normal renal function without obvious pathological changes or apoptosis in the renal tissue. Renal cortex injection of 20 µL lentivirus resulted in obviously increased level of miR-483-5p at 21 days (1.2∓0.43 vs 8.6∓1.09, P<0.001). miR-483-5p showed a low expression (0.9∓0.09 vs 1.7∓0.19, P<0.05) in TG483 mice and a high expression in the kidney of the transgenic mice established using the Cre-loxp system (1.6∓1.13 vs 12.36∓3.89, P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe transgenic mice with renal tubule-specific expression of miR-483-5p show normal renal function, and this model facilitates further study of the role of miR-483-5p in the kidney.

BackgroundThe pathogenesis of postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the changes and significance of sulfur dioxide (SO) in patients with POTS.

MethodsThe study included 31 children with POTS and 27 healthy children from Peking University First Hospital between December 2013 and October 2015. A detailed medical history, physical examination results, and demographic characteristics were collected. Hemodynamics was recorded and the plasma SOwas determined.

ResultsThe plasma SOwas significantly higher in POTS children compared to healthy children (64.0 ± 20.8 μmol/L vs. 27.2 ± 9.6 μmol/L, respectively, P < 0.05). The symptom scores in POTS were positively correlated with plasma SOlevels (r = 0.398, P < 0.05). In all the study participants, the maximum heart rate (HR) was positively correlated with plasma levels of SO(r = 0.679, P < 0.01). The change in systolic blood pressure from the supine to upright (ΔSBP) in POTS group was smaller than that in the control group (P < 0.05). The ΔSBP was negatively correlated with baseline plasma SOlevels in all participants (r = -0.28, P < 0.05). In the control group, ΔSBP was positively correlated with the plasma levels of SO(r = 0.487, P < 0.01). The change in HR from the supine to upright in POTS was obvious compared to that of the control group. The area under curve was 0.967 (95% confidence interval: 0.928-1.000), and the cutoff value of plasma SOlevel >38.17 μmol/L yielded a sensitivity of 90.3% and a specificity of 92.6% for predicting the diagnosis of POTS.

ConclusionsIncreased endogenous SOlevels might be involved in the pathogenesis of POTS.

To establish a method for the determination of coagulation activity in vitro by using fibrinogen plate method. The extraction route of compound Huanghuai was optimized by selecting thrombin as the reference substance. The comprehensive score of extract yield and the extraction transfer rate of baicalin and rutin was set as the dependent variable, with alcohol concentration, solvent volume and extraction time as the influence factors in central composite design for quadratic fitting, and the extraction process of compound Huanghuai was optimized by using response surface methodology. The results of thrombin concentration and precipitation zone area showed a good linear relationship in 0.4-16 U•mL⁻¹, r=0.997 5. The average recovery rate was 103.8% and the RSD was 4.7 %. The circle of precipitation area of compound Huanghuai combined extract was 38.81 mm², which was bigger than that of fractionated extract. The activity on the daily amount of compound Huanghuai extract was 84.28 U; and the optimum extraction technology was as follows: alcohol concentration 40%, extracted 3 times, the liquid-solid ratio 6∶1, and extraction time 2 h. The predicted value of comprehensive score was 94.26 and the measured value was 88.34, respectively, with a relative deviation of 6.28%. The coagulation activity of the intermediate obtained by optimal extraction process was better. So the method established in this paper was simple, fast and accurate for determination of coagulation activity of compound Huanhuai, which can be also used for the screening of follow-up process and quality control.

Chinese medicine prescriptions are a type of medical documents written by doctors after they understand the patients' conditions for syndrome differentiation. Chinese medicine prescriptions are also the basis for pharmacy personnel to dispense medicines and guide patients to use drugs. It has the legal, technical and economic significances. Chinese medicine prescriptions contain such information of names, quantity and usage. Whether the names of drugs in Chinese medicine prescriptions are standardized or not is directly related to the safety and efficacy of the drugs. At present, nonstandard clinical prescriptions are frequently seen. With "Chinese medicine prescription", "names of drug in Chinese medicine prescription" and "standards of Chinese medicine prescription" as key words, the author searched CNKI, Wanfang and other databases, and consulted nearly 100 literatures, so as to summarize current names of drugs in traditional Chinese medicine prescription, analyze the reasons, and give suggestions, in the expectation of standardizing the names of drugs used in traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions.

Background:Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is frequently associated with paraneoplastic inflammatory syndrome (PIS). This study aimed at exploring the connections between the survival rate and specific gene alterations and the potential mechanism.

Methods:We retrospectively studied 69 surgical RCC cases from August 2014 to February 2016, including 18 cases of clear cell RCC (ccRCC) demonstrating elevated pretreatment serum C-reactive protein (CRP, Group A). Twelve of the 18 cases were symptomized with febrile episode. We also selected 49 cases of ccRCC with normal pretreatment CRP (Group B). Using 22 microsatellite markers, we compared the incidence of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) between Group A and Group B. All statistical tests are two-sided.

Results:The 3p LOH was common in both Group A (89%) and Group B (92%). The frequency of 14q LOH in Group A (16 of 18) was higher than Group B (4 of 49, χ= 40.97 P < 0.0001). The 3p and 14q LOH were the characteristics of ccRCC with elevated acute phase reactants, including PIS, regardless of the presence of metastasis. On the contrary, 14q LOH was a rare genomic alternation in advanced-staged ccRCC without PIS. The overall survival of patients with elevated CRP (33.3%) was lower than its counterparts (6.1%, hazard ratio=1.852, P < 0.0001) in Kaplan-Meier curve.

Conclusions:The results imply that the disruption of a 14q gene(s) might result in not only the inflammatory manifestations in the tumor host but also the poor survival rate as well. The isolation of the gene(s) on 14q might be a vital goal in the treatment of PIS-associated RCC.

OBJECTIVETo study the relationship between the degree of fever within 48 hours of admission and the prognosis in children with bacterial bloodstream infection.

METHODSThis study retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of all patients diagnosed with sepsis who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of Shengjing Hospital Affiliated to China Medical University between September 2008 and September 2016. The children with bacterial bloodstream infection were classified into 5 groups according to the maximum temperature within 48 hours of admission: <36.5°C group, ≥36.5°C group (normal control), ≥37.5°C group, ≥38.5°C group, and ≥39.5°C group. The mortality was compared between the five groups. Results A total of 213 children with bacterial bloodstream infection were enrolled, consisting of 5 cases in the <36.5°C group, 44 cases in the ≥36.5°C group, 73 cases in the ≥37.5°C group, 69 cases in the ≥38.5°C group, and 22 cases in the ≥39.5°C group. A total of 48 cases died among the 213 patients. A significant difference was observed in the mortality between the five groups (P<0.01). The <36.5°C group and ≥39.5°C group had significantly higher mortality than the normal control group. However, there were no significant differences in the mortality between the ≥37.5°C and ≥38.5°C groups and the normal control group. Conclusions In children with bacterial bloodstream infection, those with a maximum temperature below 36.5°C or above 39.5°C within 48 hours of admission have a significantly increased mortality.

Bacteremia ; mortality ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Fever ; complications ; Humans ; Infant ; Intensive Care Units, Pediatric ; Male ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

Goose parvovirus (GPV) continues to be a threat to goose farms and has significant economic effects on the production of geese. Current commercially available vaccines only rarely prevent GPV infection. In our study, Lactobacillus (L.) plantarum NC8 was selected as a vector to express the VP2 gene of GPV, and recombinant L. plantarum pSIP409-VP2/NC8 was successfully constructed. The molecular weight of the expressed recombinant protein was approximately 70 kDa. Mice were immunized with a 2 × 109 colony-forming unit/200 µL dose of the recombinant L. plantarum strain, and the ratios and numbers of CD11c⁺, CD3⁺CD4⁺, CD3⁺CD8⁺, and interferon gamma- and tumor necrosis factor alpha-expressing spleen lymphocytes in the pSIP409-VP2/NC8 group were higher than those in the control groups. In addition, we assessed the capacity of L. plantarum SIP409-VP2/NC8 to induce secretory IgA production. We conclude that administered pSIP409-VP2/NC8 leads to relatively extensive cellular responses. This study provides information on GPV infection and offers a clear framework of options available for GPV control strategies.
Agriculture ; Animals ; Geese ; Immunization ; Immunoglobulin A, Secretory ; Interferons ; Lactobacillus plantarum* ; Lactobacillus* ; Lymphocytes ; Mice* ; Molecular Weight ; Parvovirus* ; Spleen ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Vaccines