BACKGROUND: Scoliosis secondary to neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) in children aged <10 years is an important etiology of early-onset scoliosis (EOS). This study was performed to investigate the curve evolution of patients with EOS secondary to NF1 undergoing bracing treatment and to analyze high-risk indicators of rapid curve progression. METHODS: Children with EOS due to NF1 who underwent bracing treatment from 2010 to 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. The angle velocity (AV) at each visit was calculated, and patients with rapid curve progression (AV of >10°/year) were identified. The age at modulation and the AV before and after modulation were obtained. Patients with (n = 18) and without rapid curve progression (n = 10) were statistically compared. RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients with a mean age of 6.5 ± 1.9 years at the initial visit were reviewed. The mean Cobb angle of the main curve was 41.7° ± 2.4° at the initial visit and increased to 67.1° ± 8.6° during a mean follow-up of 44.1 ± 8.5 months. The overall AV was 6.6° ± 2.4°/year for all patients. At the last follow-up, all patients presented curve progression of >5°, and 20 (71%) patients had progressed by >20°. Rapid curve progression was observed in 18 (64%) patients and was associated with younger age at the initial visit and a higher incidence of modulation change during follow-up (t = 2.868, P = 0.008 and <0.001, respectively). The mean AV was 4.4° ± 1.2°/year before modulation and 11.8° ± 2.7°/year after modulation (t = 11.477, P < 0.010). CONCLUSIONS Curve progression of >10°/year is associated with younger age at the initial visit, and modulation change indicated the occurrence of the rapid curve progression phase.
Braces ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Disease Progression ; Humans ; Neurofibromatosis 1/complications* ; Retrospective Studies ; Scoliosis/diagnostic imaging* ; Treatment Outcome

To investigate the inflammatory mechanism of nasal instillation of fine particulate matter (PM)on hippocampal tissue injury in mice. Thirty C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into 3 groups(n=10):control group, low-dose group, high-dose group. The nasal instillation doses of PM in the low-dose group and the high-dose group were 1.5 mg/kg BW and 7.5 mg/kg BW, respectively, and the control group was given saline with an equal volume. Saline was sprayed once every other time for 12 times. The serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were determined by ELISA method. HE staining and electron microscopy were used to observe the pathological changes and ultrastructure of lung tissue and hippocampus. The inflammatory cytokine levels in hippocampus were detected by antibody chip technique. There was no significant effect of PM nasal instillation on serum TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 levels (P＞0.05), and there was no obvious pathological changes in lung tissue structure. In hippocampus, low-dose and high-dose PM exposure could lead to disordered neuronal arrangement in the hippocampal CA3 region, and there were neurological changes around the neuron cells and ultrastructural changes such as edema around small blood vessels. Compared with the control group, the levels of inflammatory cytokines such as CX3CL1, CSF2 and TECK in the low-dose group were increased significantly (P ＜0.05), while sTNFR1 was decreased significantly (P＜0.05); the inflammatory factors CX3CL1, CSF2, and TCA-3 were significantly increased in the high-dose group (P＜0.05), while leptin, MIG, and FASLG were significantly decreased (P＜0.05). Nasal instillation of PM can induce tissue damage in the hippocampus of mice, and its mechanism of action may be the olfactory brain pathway. The increasing of TNF-α and IL-6 and the decreasing of sTNFR1 and FASLG may be involved in inflammatory mechanisms.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the vascular damage effects and possible mechanism of acute exposure to ozone (O) in male Wistar rats. METHODS: One hundred and twenty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into six groups, 20 in each group. The experimental animals were placed in a gas poisoning cabinet, the control group was exposed to filtered air, and the treatment group was exposed to ozone at concentrations of 0.12 ppm, 0.5 ppm, 1.0 ppm, 2.0 ppm, and 4.0 ppm, respectively, for 4 hours. Arterial blood pressure data were obtained by PC-lab medical physiological signal acquisition system. Blood rheology indicators and blood biochemical indicators were detected by Tianjin Dean Diagnostic Laboratory. Serum endothelin-1 (ET-1), homocysteine (HCY), von Willebrand factor (vWF), 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OhdG), interleukin (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) microplate assay. Oxidative stress indicators superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) were determined by xanthine oxidase method, thiobarbituric acid (TBA) method, reduced glutathione (GSH) and nitric oxide (NO) were tested by using microplate colorimetry. Paraffin sections were prepared from thoracic aorta tissue, and vascular structure was observed by HE staining. RESULTS: Acute exposure to 0.12 ppm ozone could cause a significant increase in arterial systolic blood pressure (SBP). Exposure to different concentrations of ozone could cause a significant increase in plasma viscosity, and the K value of the ESR equation was significantly increased in the 1.0 ppm ozone exposure group. Both the relative and reduced viscosities were significantly reduced at ozone concentrations of 0.5 ppm and 4.0 ppm, while the red blood cell deformation index was increased significantly at ozone concentrations of 0.12 ppm, 0.5 ppm, 1.0 ppm, and 2.0 ppm. Acute ozone exposure resulted in the decrease of total cholesterol content. The content of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was significantly reduced in the 0.12 ppm ozone exposure group. When the ozone concentration was higher than 1.0 ppm, the body may also had an inflammatory reaction (increased TNF-α) and oxidative stress (increased MDA, decreased GSH). Acute exposure to ozone could lead to elevated levels of ET-1 in the blood, with significant differences in the 4.0 ppm concentration group, while HCY levels were decreased firstly and then increased, reaching the highest in the 1.0 ppm concentration group. No obvious pathological changes were observed in the thoracic aorta. CONCLUSION Acute ozone exposure can affect arterial blood pressure, blood rheology and cholesterol metabolism in rats. The possible mechanism is that ozone exposure leads to inflammatory reaction and oxidative stress reaction, causing vascular endothelial function damage, and vascular endothelial cells increase with ozone exposure concentration.
Animals ; Blood Vessels ; injuries ; Deoxyguanosine ; analogs & derivatives ; blood ; Endothelin-1 ; blood ; Homocysteine ; blood ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; analysis ; Oxidative Stress ; Ozone ; toxicity ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Superoxide Dismutase ; analysis ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; blood ; von Willebrand Factor ; analysis

AIM:To compare the changes of surgically induced corneal higher order aberrations after phacoemulsification with 2.8mm clear corneal incisions at different sites.METHODS:The clinical data of 100 cases (100 eyes) of patients with cataract treated by phacoemulsification with 2.8mm clear corneal incision in our hospital from March 2015 to April 2016 were analyzed retrospectively.According to the site of incision,they were divided into Group A (temporal clear corneal incision,n =55) and Group B (upper clear corneal incision,n=45).Changes of the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA),surgically induced astigmatism (SIA) and corneal topography were compared between the two groups before surgery,at 1d,1wk,1 and 3mo after surgery.The corneal wavefront aberrations were measured by wavefront aberration analyzer,and the changes of higher-order aberrations in corneal 6mm range were recorded.RESULTS:The BCVA of two groups decreased at 1d,1wk,1 and 3mo after surgery (P＜0.05),and the BCVA of Group A at 1d,1wk,and 1mo after surgery was lower than that of Group B (P＜0.05).SIA of the two groups decreased at 1wk,1 and 3mo after surgery (P＜0.05),and the SIA of Group A at different time points after surgery were lower than those of Group B (P＜0.05).The surface asymmetry index (SAI) and the surface rule index (SRI) of the two groups increased at 1 d after surgery,and were gradually decreased at 1wk,1 and 3mo after surgery.The SRI and SAI in Group A were lower than those in Group B at 1d and 1wk after surgery (P＜ 0.05).The total corneal higher-order aberrations (tHOAs) and four-order spherical aberration (SA)showed significant differences between the two groups at 3mo after surgery (P＜0.05).CONCLUSION:The application of 2.8mm temporal clear corneal incision in phacoemulsification can promote the recovery of visual acuity,reduce the effect of surgery on corneal shape,and reduce corneal higher-order aberrations.

Objective To evaluate the effect of an integrated control strategy and to quantify the spatial-temporal variation of infected snails in the bottomland areas after the strategy was implemented.Methods Based on the geographic database of infected snail distribution at the village level during 2004-2010 in Anxiang county,Hunan province,spatial autocorrelation analysis and spatial scan statistics were applied to analyze the spatial-temporal characteristics on the distribution of infected snails.Results The number of embankments with infected snails in Anxiang county decreased from 23 in 2004 to 10 in 2010,while the rate of frame with infected snail in embankments decreased from 4.32‰ in 2004 to 0.12‰ in 2010.The spatial distribution of infected snails was nonrandom,only in 2004 and 2005 with Moran's I=0.21 (P＜0.10) and Moran's I=0.13 (P＜0.10) respectively.Data from the local spatial auto-correlation analysis showed that the number of villages with H-H types of auto-correlation model had been gradually decreasing.The results of SaTScan statistics appeared the same as from the local spatial auto-correlation analysis,showing that the number of areas with increased risk was decreasing.Conclusion The comprehensive measures with emphasis on infectious source control seemed effective for schistosomiasis control program.The current distribution characteristics provided us with evidence that the resource assignment could be more reasonably implemented so as to control schistosomiasis in a more effective way.

OBJECTIVELcrV is an important component for the development of a subunit vaccine against plague. To reduce immunosuppressive activity of LcrV, a recombinant LcrV variant lacking amino acids 271 to 326 (rV270) was prepared by different methods in this study.

METHODSA new strategy that produced non-tagged or authentic rV270 protein was designed by insertion of rV270-thrombin-hexahistidine fusion gene into the vector pET24a, or by insertion of hexahistidine-enterokinase-rV270 or hexahistitine-factor Xa-rV270 fusion gene into the vector pET32a. After Co(2+) affinity chromatography, a purification strategy was developed by cleavage of His tag on column, following Sephacryl S-200HR column filtration chromatography.

RESULTSRemoval of His tag by thrombin, enterokinase and factor Xa displayed a yield of 99.5%, 32.4% and 15.3%, respectively. Following Sephacryl S-200HR column filtration chromatography, above 97% purity of rV270 protein was obtained. Purified rV270 that was adsorbed to 25% (v/v) Al(OH)₃ adjuvant in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) induced very high titers of antibody to rV270 in BALB/c mice and protected them (100% survival) against subcutaneous challenge with 10⁶ CFU of Y. pestis virulent strain 141.

CONCLUSIONThe completely authentic rV270 protein can be prepared by using enterokinase or factor Xa, but they exhibited extremely low cleavage activity to the corresponding recognition site. Thrombin cleavage is an efficient strategy to prepare non-tagged rV270 protein and can be easily operated in a large scale due to its relatively low cost and high cleavage efficacy. The recombinant rV270 can be used as a key component to develop a subunit vaccine of plague.

Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Antibodies, Bacterial ; blood ; Antigens, Bacterial ; genetics ; immunology ; Blotting, Western ; Cloning, Molecular ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; Female ; Genetic Vectors ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Plague ; immunology ; prevention & control ; Plague Vaccine ; genetics ; immunology ; Plasmids ; Pore Forming Cytotoxic Proteins ; genetics ; immunology ; Protein Engineering ; methods ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; genetics ; immunology ; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization ; Survival Analysis ; Vaccines, Subunit ; genetics ; immunology ; Yersinia pestis ; growth & development ; immunology

China ; epidemiology ; Diabetes Mellitus ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; metabolism ; Glycated Hemoglobin A ; metabolism ; Humans ; Prevalence

Objective To study the biodistribution of anti-HER-2/neu monoclonal antibody Herceptin labeled by 131I(131I-Herceptin) in healthy KM mice and nude mice bearing human ovarian cancer xenografts and radioimmunoimaging (RII) of the nude xenografts-bearing mice.Methods 131I-Herceptin was prepared using Iodogen method.The labeling efficiency, radiochemical purity, stability and immunocompetence were measured.The percentage activity of injection dose per gram of tissue (%ID/g) and the radioactivity ratio of tumor to non-tumor tissue (T/NT) were calculated for each time point.The optimal time for imaging was investigated by comparing the 131I-Herceptin SPECT for the nude mouse models bearing ovarian cancer xenografts at different time points.Results The labeling efficiency and radiochemical purity of 131I-Herceptin were 89.8% and 98.4%, respectively.The labeling was stable and had good immunocompetence.131 I-Herceptin was cleared rapidly mainly through liver, spleen and kidneys, consistent with first order two-compartment model.The uptake of 131I-Herceptin in the tumors bearing human SKOV-3 xenografts was much higher than that in nontumor tissue.The% ID/g was 18.08 in the tumor at 24 h post injection.The T/NT ratio increased with time and was 27.27 at 72 h post injection.The tumors in nude mice bearing SKOV-3 xenografts could be visualized on 131I-Herceptin SPECT imaging 2 h post injection; definitely identiffed 48 h post injection and the radioactivity ratio of tumor to contralateral tissue was 11.44 at 120 h post injection.However, the tumor in nude mice bearing HO-8910 xenografts did not show abnormal uptake of 131 I-Herceptin at each time point.Conclusions 131 I-Herceptin is a good radiopharmaceutical targeting SK-OV-3 xeuografts and it may be useful in imaging carcinoma of ovary and target therapy of its metastases with high HER-2/neu expression.

OBJECTIVETo discuss the diagnosis and treatment of the crush syndrome in the earthquake.

METHODSThirty-five patients with crush syndrome caused by earthquake were involved the retrospective study. The role of nutritional support, active wound treatment and hemodialysis on the patients' recovery was observed.

RESULTSThe function of the heart and kidneys were gradually improved by the planned removal of the necrotic tissue, which laid a foundation for the further repair of the wound.

CONCLUSIONThe removal of necrotic tissue, which can decrease the toxic absorption, will improve the success rate for treatment of the crush syndrome patients when being assisted with the hemodialysis.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; China ; Crush Syndrome ; complications ; physiopathology ; surgery ; therapy ; Disasters ; statistics & numerical data ; Earthquakes ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Renal Dialysis ; Retrospective Studies