[Epidemiological investigation of two leptospirosis death cases in Guizhou Province].

Objective: To conduct an epidemiological investigation of two leptospirosis death cases reported in Guizhou Province in 2014. Methods: The information of the patients were investigated and analyzed. The serological detection, samples of the two patients was detected using ELISA and microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Leptospira carrier status of murine host animal in the living environment of the two patients was investigated in October and November of 2014. Leptospires in the kidney were cultured and isolated, the isolates were identified using Leptospira specific PCR and further identified with serogroup specific PCR and the conventional MAT. The relativity between the carrier status of murine and the death cases of human leptospirosis was analyzed. Results: The two death cases of human leptospirosis came from Liping County and the clinical symptoms were consistent with the diagnosis criteria for Leptospirosis. The results of ELISA detection showed that the anti-Leptospira antibody was positive for one of the death cases, MAT identified the serum reacted with sera-group icterohaemorrhagiae Leptospira, while the serum sample of the other case was failed to perform antibody detection due to hemolysis. 1 600 traps were placed in the living environment of the two death cases and 183 murine rodents were trapped. The murine density was 11.44% (183/1 600); 40 leptospirea suspected strains were isolated and all of them were isolated from Apodemus agrarius. The positive rate was 21.86% (40/183); 95 Apodemus agrarius were trapped and the murine density was 5.93% (95/1 600). Species specific PCR identified all the 40 strains as Leptospire. Serogroup specific PCR further identification showed that they were iterohaemorrahgiae serogroup Leptospria. interrogans. Conclusion: Anti-iterohaemorrahgiae Leptospira antibody was detected from one of the two patients. 40 strains of iterohaemorrahgiae serogroup Leptospira interrogans were isolated and all of them were isolated from Apodemus agrarius in the living environment and the serogroup of the Leptospira matched with the serological detection results from patients, which indicated that the two death cases were caused by the infection of iterohaemorrahgiae serogroup Leptospira interrogans, and Apodemus agrarius were the potential source of infection.

Elevated venous lactate level as an early predictive marker of organ failure in acute pancreatitis: a retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship between venous lactate levels and the severity of acute pancreatitis (AP). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Retrospective data analysis was conducted on patients diagnosed with acute pancreatitis. The comparative assessment encompassed baseline characteristics, laboratory data, illness severity, local consequences, and organ failure instances. This comparison was performed between patients exhibiting normal serum lactic acid levels (HL) and those displaying elevated HL levels. The association between serum HL levels and other pertinent clinical markers was investigated using linear regression. Logistic regression analysis was employed to evaluate the utility of elevated serum lactate levels in identifying high-risk groups. RESULTS: Significantly elevated serum HL levels were observed in patients with moderately severe acute pancreatitis (MSAP) and severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in contrast to those with mild acute pancreatitis (MAP) (p<0.01). Multivariate logistic analysis demonstrated that higher lactate levels independently predicted organ failure (95% CI 0.738-0.902, p<0.05). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that the lactate (LAC) cut-off value of 2.45 mmol/L yielded sensitivity and specificity values of 76.5% and 79.1%, respectively, for predicting AP-associated organ failure. The corresponding area under the curve (AUC) was 0.820. CONCLUSIONS: In AP patients, elevated serum HL levels signify disease severity and hold predictive potential for assessing the risk of organ failure.

Pathogenic role of mast cells in the development of diabetic nephropathy: a study of patients at different stages of the disease.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Increased renal mast cells have been detected in diabetic nephropathy. However, only a few patients have been examined. Evidence of the involvement of mast cells in diabetic nephropathy is still scarce, and no observation of mast cells during the development of diabetic nephropathy has yet been reported in humans. Here, we examined changes in renal mast cells in patients at different stages of diabetic nephropathy and related these to the development of the disease. METHODS: Eighty patients at different clinical stages of diabetic nephropathy and 16 normal kidney donors were recruited. Immunohistochemical staining for tryptase, chymase, TGF-ß1, renin and TNF-α was done on renal sections from patients and control participants. Changes in mast cell number, degranulation, subtype and phenotype were examined. Correlation between mast cells and patients' clinical and pathological indices was analysed. RESULTS: With progression of diabetic nephropathy, the number and degranulation level of mast cells increased. Increase in mast cell number and degranulation level correlated significantly with tubular interstitial injury. Almost all renal mast cells in patients with diabetic nephropathy were found to produce chymase, renin, TGF-ß1 and TNF-α. The level of TNF-α in mast cells increased with progression of diabetic nephropathy. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: This study suggests that mast cells are involved in development of diabetic nephropathy. Through release of bioactive substances, such as tryptase, chymase, TGF-ß1, renin and TNF-α, into the tubular interstitium by degranulation, mast cells could promote renal inflammation and fibrosis, and thus contribute to diabetic nephropathy.

[Isolation and identification of Leptospira in patients with fever of unknown origin in Guizhou province].

Objective: To understand the etiological characteristics of the patients with fever of unknown origin in Guizhou province through the isolation and identification of Leptospira interrogans and provide evidence for the control, prevention and treatment of human leptospirosis. Methods: Blood and urine samples were collected from patients with fever symptoms in Qiandongnan, an epidemic area, in Guizhou. The suspected Leptospira strains were primarily identified using pathogenic Leptospira specific G1/G2-PCR, and subsequently identified by using Leptospira serogroups specific PCR. The Leptospira strains were then genotyped with multiple locus sequence typing. MLST data based cluster analysis on the isolates and Leptospira reference strains of common serogroups were analyzed by using software NTsys 2.10e. Results: Three suspected strains of Leptospira were isolated from human blood samples, the isolation rate was 8.６%, which were designated as strain 17BX002, 17BX003 and 17AJX008. Strain 17BX002 was further identified as serogroup grippotyphosa by using Leptospira serogroup specific PCR, while the other two strains were negative (excluded as iterohaemorrhagiae, sejroe, canicola, autumnalis, grippotyphosa and hebdomadis). MLST genotyping showed that strain 17BX002 was typed as ST106, most closely clustered with Leptospira grippotyphosa, while strain 17BX003 and 17AJX008 were typed as ST96, the same as serogroup badaviae. Conclusion: There are leptospirosis cases in epidemic area of Guizhou in high incidence season, grippotyphosa and bataviae are the newly discovered serogroups of Leptospira in Guizhou.

Circulating thrombomodulin and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 and renal vascular lesion in patients with lupus nephritis.

Currently, the detection of renal vascular lesions (VLS) in lupus nephritis (LN) mainly depends on biopsy examination, and lack surrogate biomarkers for clinical dynamic evaluation. The aim of the present study is to explore the correlation between circulatory endothelial damage biomarkers and VLS. Soluble E-selectin, thrombomodulin (TM) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) were measured by ELISA. TM and VCAM-1 levels both were significantly elevated in LN with VLS than in LN without VLS (P < 0.01). However, the serum E-selectin was not significantly changed in LN patients with and without VLS. A positive correlation was found between TM and serum creatinine (r = 0.617, P < 0.05) in patients with vascular lesions. In order to further analyse the relationship between TM level and severity degree of vascular lesions in LN patients, we subdivided the patients with vascular lesions into two groups: with thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) and without TMA. TM level of the patients with TMA is significantly higher than those without TMA (P < 0.01). In conclusion, combined with renal pathological examination, monitoring the circulatory levels of TM and VCAM-1, can provide circulating biomarkers of VLS in LN patients.

Genotoxicity of drinking water from Chao Lake.

Genotoxic activity appears to originate primarily from reactions of chlorine with humic substances in the source waters. Comparisons of extracts of settled versus chlorinated water have confirmed that chlorinating during water treatment produces mutagenic activity in the mutagenicity tests. Present work on XAD-2 extracts of raw, chlorinated (treated), and settled water from the Chao Lake region of China has involved a battery of mutagenicity assays for various genetic endpoints: the Salmonella test, the sister-chromatid exchange (SCE) induction in Chinese hamster lung (CHL) cells, and the micronucleus (MN) induction in the peripheral blood erythrocytes of silver carp. Extracts of raw and treated water but not the settled water are mutagenic in the Salmonella assay. On the other hand, extracts of three water samples show activity in the SCE and MN assays, especially the raw and treated water. These data show that contamination and chlorinating contribute mutagens to drinking water and suggest that the mammalian assays may be more sensitive for detecting mutagenicity in aquatic environment than the Salmonella test.