Magnetic resonance Index of Activity (MaRIA) is reliable in assessing response to treatment in patients with Crohn's disease (CD).

AIM: To assess the accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Index of Activity (MaRIA) in evaluating therapeutic efficacy in Crohn's disease (CD) patients with different activity levels using ileocolonoscopy as the reference standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-eight patients underwent magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) and ileocolonoscopy at baseline, week 26, and week 52, along with the Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn's Disease (SES-CD) and MaRIA scores. According to the SES-CD score at baseline, all patients were subdivided into mild, moderate, and severe activity subgroups. The identification of endoscopic mucosal healing (MH) was explored primarily. Moreover, the Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI), C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), procalcitonin (PCT), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were collected and analysed. RESULTS: MaRIA correlated significantly with SES-CD and CRP at baseline, week 26, and week 52. The discrepancies in MaRIA and SES-CD were statistically significant before and after treatment. MaRIA = 24.43 and ΔMaRIA = 12.77 as the cut-off points were found to have high diagnostic accuracy for predicting MH. MaRIA (p<0.001), SES-CD (p<0.001), CRP (p<0.05), ESR (p<0.05), and CDAI score (p<0.05) in patients with MH were considerably decreased compared to those in patients without MH. CONCLUSIONS: MRE has good application value in evaluating the therapeutic response of CD patients treated with biological agents. MaRIA is a reliable indicator in the follow-up of CD patients, which is strongly correlated with SES-CD, and it has high accuracy in predicting endoscopic MH.

[Characterization of a cloned DNA fragment of rice chloroplast and location rbcL gene in the recombinant plasmid].

The pure rice (Oryza sativa, subsp. Indica, cv. Zhenshan 97B) chloroplast DNA was digested by restriction enzyme BamHI and the resulting fragments were ligated to the BamHI site of pBR322. One recombinant plasmid which contains a 19.3kb insertel DNA fragment was isolated from the clone bank and was named pOSB1. A physical map of the recombinant plasmid was constructed by cleavage with ten restriction endonucleases, and the gene rbcL was located on the pOSB1.

The structure and organization of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene from the archaebacterium Thermoplasma acidophilum.

The complete nucleotide sequence of the 16S rRNA gene from Thermoplasma acidophilum, as well as its 5' and 3' flanking regions, were determined by the dideoxynucleotide chain termination method. The 16S rRNA gene encodes 1471 nucleotides. The primary and secondary structures of T. acidophilum 16S rRNA both exhibit typical archaebacterial features. The sequence appears to be more closely related to 16S rRNAs of the methanogen--halophile group than to those of the thermoacidophile group. Secondary-structure comparisons generally support this relationship, although there are several examples in which the single-stranded loops in particular helices of T. acidophilum 16S rRNA more strongly resemble their counterparts in the 16S rRNA of Sulfolobus solfataricus, a member of the thermoacidophile group. In contrast to the polycistronic rRNA operons found in most organisms, the three rRNA genes from T. acidophilum occur in only a single copy per genome and appear to be physically unlinked. Consistent with this, the 16S rRNA gene is flanked by putative promoter and terminator sequences that are comparable to the transcription control signals from other archaebacterial genes. The sequence TATATATA, which is very similar to the archaebacterial promoter consensus TTTAT/AATA, is located 18 bases before the probable site of transcription initiation, TGCACAT. There is a potential transcription termination site immediately downstream from the gene that consists of a relatively stable stem and loop structure followed by stretches of Tresidues.