An Integrated Analysis of Risk Factors of Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Severe Carotid Artery Stenosis / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate cognitive dysfunction in patients with carotid artery stenosis (CAS) and potential risk factors related to cognitive-especially memory-dysfunction.@*METHODS@#Forty-seven patients with carotid artery stenosis were recruited into our study cohort. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were adopted to assess cognitive function, the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) to assess memory function, high-resolution MRI and enhanced ultrasound to evaluate carotid plaques, and computed tomography perfusion (CTP) imaging to evaluate intracranial blood perfusion. Single-factor analysis and multiple-factor regression analysis were used to analyze potential risk factors of cognitive impairment.@*RESULTS@#Mini-Mental State Examination test results showed that 22 patients had cognitive impairment, and MoCA test results showed that 10 patients had cognitive impairment. Analysis of various risk factors indicated that the average memory quotient of female patients was higher than that of males (P = 0.024). The cognitive and memory performance of those with an educational background above high school were significantly better than those of participants with high school or lower (P = 0.045). Patients with abnormal intracranial perfusion performed worse on the MMSE test (P = 0.024), and their WMS scores were significantly lower (P = 0.007). The MMSE scores and the memory quotients were significantly lower in patients with a history of cerebral infarction (MMSE, P = 0.047, memory quotient score, P = 0.018).@*CONCLUSION@#A history of cerebral infarction and abnormal cerebral perfusion are associated with decline in overall cognitive function and memory in patients with carotid stenosis. Being female and having an educational background above high school may be protective factors in the development of cognitive dysfunction.

Genetic characterization of Chinese rubella virus isolates from 2003 to 2007 / 病毒学报

57 rubella virus strains were isolated using Vero cell line or Vero/SLAM cell line from patients' throat swabs during rubella outbreaks and sporadics in 10 provinces of China from 2003 to 2007. Fragments of 1107 nucleotides of E1 genes of the isolates were amplified by RT-PCR, the PCR products were directly sequenced and analyzed. The phylogenetic analysis based on 739 nucleotides showed that out of 57 Chinese rubella virus strains, 55 belong to a distinguish branch of 1E genotype when comparing with 1E genotype rubella strains from other countries, and the other 2 Chinese rubella virus strains belong to 2B genotype. Most of the nucleotide mutations of 57 rubella viruses were silent mutations, and the amino acid sequences were highly conserved. Except one amino acid change (Thr212 --> Ser212) in two rubella viruses at the hemagglutination inhibition and neutralization epitopes, there had no change found at the important antigenic epitope sites of the other rubella viruses. 1E genotype rubella viruses isolated from 10 provinces of China from 2003 to 2007, and two imported 2B genotype rubella viruses from Vietnam suggested that 1E genotype was the predominant genotype in this period of time. The rubella virus genotypes circulated during 2003 to 2007 were different from that circulating during 1979 to 1984 and 1999 to 2002, the rubella prevailed in recent years was mainly caused by 1E genotype rubella viruses with multi-transmission routes.