Factors affecting recovery of consciousness in patients with disorders of consciousness following brain trauma: a logistic regression analysis / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the factors that affect the recovery of consciousness in patients with disorders of consciousness following brain trauma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We analyzed the data of 114 patients with disorders of consciousness following brain trauma admitted for rehabilitation. Bilateral logistic regression analysis was used to explore the factors that affected the recovery of the patients' consciousness. A logistic regression model was established and the ROC curve was drawn to obtain the optimal threshold of the prognostic model.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Univariate analysis showed that vegetative state duration (P<0.001), CRS-R scores (P<0.001), hydrocephalus (P=0.037), hypertonia (P=0.034), central fever (P=0.035), paroxysmal sympathetic hyperactivity (PSH) (P=0.004), and epilepsy seizures were correlated with the recovery of consciousness. Logistic multivariate analysis showed that central fever (OR=3.493, P=0.044), vegetative state duration (OR=1.016, P=0.008), PSH (OR=4.223, P=0.034) and CRS-R scores (OR=0.640, P=0.002) all significantly affected the recovery of consciousness. The χvalue of the Hosmer-Lemeshow test was 10.214 (P=0.250), and the goodness of fit of this model indicated an outstanding fitting (c=0.91).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The presence of PSH is the one of the most important factor followed by centric fever to affect the outcome of patients with disorders of consciousness. A lower CRS-R score and a longer duration of vegetative state also predict a poor recovery of consciousness in these patients.</p>

Study of copper metabolism and liver damage in TX Mice-an animal model for liver disease / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To provide right time points in selection of right aged animals and the normal physiological data of TX mice.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>7-12 months old TX and DL mice were studied, each group contained 3 female and 3 male mice of TX or DL mice. The concentration of copper in the serum, dry tissues (liver, brain and kidney), together with copper biochemistry indexes were measured. The liver histopathology was observed under light microscopy and electron microscope.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Transaminase increased significantly only in 10 and 11-month- old (AST(TX10) = 218.3 U/L, AST(TX11) = 197.5 U/L, AST(DL10) = 171.5 U/L, AST(DL11) = 165.0 U/L, P(10) less than 0.001, P(11) = 0.022), but the copper concentration of liver, brain and kidney was significantly increased during 7-12 month old (the average concentration of copper, Liver(TX) = (750.0 +/- 85.5) mg/kg, Brain(TX) = (39.7 +/- 2.2)mg/kg, Kidney(TX) = (29.8 +/- 5.0) mg/kg, Liver(DL) = (11.6 +/- 1.5) mg/kg, Brain(DL) = (16.8 +/- 0.9) mg/kg, Kidney(DL) = (14.2 +/- 1.0) mg/kg, t = 21.16, 23.60, 7.47, for all these organs P less than 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>TX mice is a suitable model of liver disease with natural recovery, so selecting animal model of suitable time point is very important.</p>

Molecular genetics and its clinical application in the diagnosis of spinocerebellar ataxias / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the strategy of applying molecular genetic methods and techniques in the diagnosis of spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This study included 43 patients with SCA from 36 families, 38 sporadic SCA patients, 60 healthy individuals from the SCA families and 44 normal controls. The trinucleotide repeats were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and silver staining technique. The repeat numbers were calculated by software.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>SCA3 was the most common type in the Hans of south China, accounting for 42.0%, followed by SCA2 (7.4%), SCA1 (4.9%), SCA7 (3.7%), SCA6 (2.5%) and SCA12 (1.2%). No patient was found to have SCA8, SCA10, SCA17, and dentatorubro-pallidoluysian atrophy(DRPLA).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Molecular genetic detection is an effective way to confirmation of SCA subtype diagnosis and presymptomatic genetic diagnosis.</p>