[Efficacy of intramuscular injection of Xiyanping injection for the treatment of acute bronchitis in children: a multicenter, randomized, parallel-controlled clinical study]. / å–œç‚Žå¹³æ³¨å°„æ¶²è‚Œå† æ³¨å°„æ²»ç–—å°å„¿æ€¥æ€§æ”¯æ°”ç®¡ç‚Žçš„ç–—æ•ˆï¼šä¸€é¡¹å¤šä¸­å¿ƒã€éšæœºã€å¹³è¡Œå¯¹ç §ä¸´åºŠç ”ç©¶.

OBJECTIVES: To study the efficacy and safety of Xiyanping injection through intramuscular injection for the treatment of acute bronchitis in children. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted from December 2021 to October 2022, including 78 children with acute bronchitis from three hospitals using a multicenter, randomized, parallel-controlled design. The participants were divided into a test group (conventional treatment plus Xiyanping injection; n=36) and a control group (conventional treatment alone; n=37) in a 1:1 ratio. Xiyanping injection was administered at a dose of 0.3 mL/(kg·d) (total daily dose ≤8 mL), twice daily via intramuscular injection, with a treatment duration of ≤4 days and a follow-up period of 7 days. The treatment efficacy and safety were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The total effective rate on the 3rd day after treatment in the test group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05), while there was no significant difference in the total effective rate on the 5th day between the two groups (P>0.05). The rates of fever relief, cough relief, and lung rale relief in the test group on the 3rd day after treatment were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). The cough relief rate on the 5th day after treatment in the test group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05), while there was no significant difference in the fever relief rate and lung rale relief rate between the two groups (P>0.05). The cough relief time, daily cough relief time, and nocturnal cough relief time in the test group were significantly shorter than those in the control group (P<0.05), while there were no significant differences in the fever duration and lung rale relief time between the two groups (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The overall efficacy of combined routine treatment with intramuscular injection of Xiyanping injection in the treatment of acute bronchitis in children is superior to that of routine treatment alone, without an increase in the incidence of adverse reactions.

[Demographic features and compliance of children with allergic diseases receiving sublingual immunotherapy]. / èˆŒä¸‹å ç–«æ²»ç–—è¿‡æ•æ€§ç–¾ç— æ‚£å„¿çš„äººå£å­¦ç‰¹å¾ä¸Žä¾ä»Žæ€§åˆ†æž.

OBJECTIVES: To study the demographic features of children with allergic diseases receiving standardized sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) and the influencing factors for the compliance with SLIT. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on the demographic features and follow-up data of 1 789 children with allergic diseases who received SLIT in Children's Hospital of Jiangxi Province from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020. The compliance with SLIT and its influencing factors were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 1 789 children received SLIT, among whom there were 1 271 boys (71.05%) and 518 girls (28.95%), with an age range of 4-14 years. Among these children, 777 (43.43%) had complete compliance with SLIT and 1 012 (56.57%) withdrew from the treatment within one year. Among the 1 012 children, 354 (34.98%) withdrew from the treatment due to self-conscious inconvenient use, 346 (34.19%) withdrew due to unsatisfactory treatment outcome, 253 (25.00%) stopped the treatment due to the improvement in symptoms, and 59 (5.83%) terminated the treatment due to adverse reactions. Withdrawal was mainly observed within 1-4 months after treatment (74.31%, 752/1 012). Girls tended to have a lower compliance rate than boys, and the children with a single disease had a lower compliance rate than those with multiple diseases (P<0.05). The multivariate analysis showed that compared with boys, girls had an increased risk of withdrawal (OR=0.811, 95%CI: 0.658-0.998, P<0.05), and compared with the children with multiple diseases, the children with a single disease were more likely to withdraw from the treatment (OR=1.313, 95%CI: 1.005-1.715, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Children with allergic diseases tend to have poor compliance with SLIT, which is associated with sex and the number of diseases, and the main reasons for withdrawal are self-conscious inconvenient use and unsatisfactory treatment outcome.

A MnO2-coated multivariate porphyrinic metal-organic framework for oxygen self-sufficient chemo-photodynamic synergistic therapy.

Lately, chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy (PDT) synergistic therapy has become a promising anti-cancer treatment mean. However, the hypoxia in tumor leads to huge impediments to the oxygen-dependent PDT effects. In this work, a multifunctional nanoplatform (TUDMP) based on a multivariable porphyrin-nMOFs core and a manganese dioxide (MnO2) shell was prepared for relieving tumor hypoxia and enhancing chemo-photodynamic synergistic therapy performance. The obtained TUDMP nanoplatform could effectively catalyze the hydrolysis of hydrogen peroxide to generate oxygen and also lead to consumption of antioxidant GSH, thereby facilitating the production of cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) by photosensitizer under laser irradiation. More importantly, the decomposition of the MnO2 shell would further promote the release of the loaded doxorubicin (DOX), and thus an efficient chemo-PDT synergistic therapy was realized. Both in vitro and in vivo experimental results demonstrated the oxygen self-sufficient multifunctional nanoplatform could exhibit significantly enhanced anticancer efficiencies compared with chemotherapy or PDT alone.

Case Report: Adult Retinoblastoma Progression in 19 Months.

SIGNIFICANCE: Retinoblastoma is the most common intraocular malignancy in childhood, comprising 4% of all pediatric cancers. Adult onset is extremely rare. Enucleation is usually performed in adult cases because of the atypical presentations and malignant features of the tumor, which lead to misdiagnosis. PURPOSE: We report a case of a 34-year-old woman who presented with an intraocular mass that was present for 19 months without any treatment before enucleation. CASE REPORT: A 34-year-old woman with a history of a dark shadow in her right eye for 2 weeks presented with a whitish-pink mass in the nasal superior retina. Angiography revealed leakage of vessels on the surface of the tumor. Ultrasound showed a midrange echogenic mass in the right eye. The patient denied treatment and was not seen again until 19 months after her first visit. B-scan ultrasound showed enlargement of intraocular growth without calcification. The patient subsequently underwent enucleation, and retinoblastoma was confirmed with histopathology of the enucleated eye. CONCLUSIONS: Retinoblastoma in adulthood is very rare. It has different clinical characteristics that need to be differentiated from other retinal tumors, such as primitive neuroectodermal tumor. They can develop very fast, but needle biopsy is not recommended. Eye care practitioners should be aware of the possibility of this malignancy in adults.

Mapping Current Fields in a Bay Using a Coast-Fitting Tomographic Inversion.

Coast-fitting tomographic inversion that is based on function expansion using three types of normal modes (the Dirichlet, Neumann, and open boundary modes) is proposed to reconstruct current fields from the coastal acoustic tomography (CAT) data. The superiority of the method was validated while using CAT data that were obtained in 2015 in the Dalian Bay. The semidiurnal tidal and residual current fields were accurately reconstructed over the entire model domain surrounded by coasts and open boundaries. The proposed method was effective, particularly around the peripheral regions of the tomography domain and the near-coast regions outside the domain, where accurate results are not expected from the conventional inverse method based on function expansion by Fourier function series with no coast fittings. The error velocity for the semidiurnal tidal currents was 2.2 cm s-1, which was calculated from the root-mean-square-difference between the CAT-observed and inverted range-averaged currents that were obtained along the nine peripheral transmission paths. The error velocity for the residual currents estimated from the 12-h mean net residual transport at the bay mouth was 0.9 cm s-1. The errors were significantly smaller than the amplitude of the tidal and residual currents.

Design and biological evaluation of novel hybrids of 1, 5-diarylpyrazole and Chrysin for selective COX-2 inhibition.

The overexpress of COX-2 was clearly associated with carcinogenesis and COX-2 as a possible target has long been exploited for cancer therapy. In this work, we described the design and synthesis of a series of diarylpyrazole derivatives integrating with chrysin. Among them, compound e9 exhibited the most potent inhibitory activity against COX-2 and antiproliferative activity against Hela cells with IC50 value of 1.12 µM. Further investigation revealed that e9 could induce apoptosis of Hela cells by mitochondrial depolarization and block the G1 phase of cell cycle in a dose-dependent manner. Besides, molecular docking simulation results was further confirmed that e9 could bind well with COX-2. In summary, compound e9 may be promising candidates for cancer therapy.

Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Water from the Yangtze River and Its Tributaries at the Dividing Point Between the Middle and Lower Reaches.

The Yangtze River drainage basins are China's most important economic development zones and also the locations of several large-scale fluorine chemical industries. In order to reveal the contribution from the tributaries at the dividing point between the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River with respect to perfluorinated substances (PFASs), 17 PFAS compounds in surface water, groundwater, and tap water samples were analyzed in the tributary system of the Jiujiang section of the Yangtze River. The total concentrations of PFASs in the surface waters ranged from 7.8 to 586.2 ng/L. High proportion of short-chain compound PFBS in surface waters in Nanchang City, Poyang Lake, and the Yangtze River was observed which is likely of WWTPs' origin.

[Mechanism of action of BET bromodomain inhibitor JQ1 in treating airway remodeling in asthmatic mice].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the molecular mechanism of action of BET bromodomain inhibitor JQ1 in treating airway remodeling in asthmatic mice. METHODS: A total of 24 mice were randomly divided into control group, ovalbumin (OVA)-induced asthma group (OVA group), and JQ1 intervention group (JQ1+OVA group), with 8 mice in each group. OVA sensitization/challenge was performed to establish a mouse model of asthma. At 1 hour before challenge, the mice in the JQ1+OVA group were given intraperitoneal injection of JQ1 solution (50 µg/g). Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung tissue samples were collected at 24 hours after the last challenge, and the total number of cells and percentage of eosinophils in BALF were calculated. Pathological staining was performed to observe histopathological changes in lung tissue. RT-PCR and Western blot were used to measure the mRNA and protein expression of E-cadherin and vimentin during epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the OVA group had marked infiltration of inflammatory cells in the airway, thickening of the airway wall, increased secretion of mucus, and increases in the total number of cells and percentage of eosinophils in BALF (P<0.01). Compared with the OVA group, the JQ1+OVA group had significantly alleviated airway inflammatory response and significant reductions in the total number of cells and percentage of eosinophils in BALF (P<0.01). Compared with the control group, the OVA group had significant reductions in the mRNA and protein expression of E-cadherin and significant increases in the mRNA and protein expression of vimentin (P<0.01); compared with the OVA group, the JQ1+OVA group had significant increases in the mRNA and protein expression of E-cadherin and significant reductions in the mRNA and protein expression of vimentin (P<0.01); there were no significant differences in these indices between the JQ1+OVA group and the control group (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Mice with OVA-induced asthma have airway remodeling during EMT. BET bromodomain inhibitor JQ1 can reduce airway inflammation, inhibit EMT, and alleviate airway remodeling, which provides a new direction for the treatment of asthma.

Circulating MicroRNA-21, MicroRNA-23a, and MicroRNA-125b as Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Burkitt Lymphoma in Children.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic value of microRNA (miRNA)-21, miRNA-23a, and miRNA-125b in Burkitt lymphoma (BL) in children. MATERIAL AND METHODS We recruited 41 children with BL for the case group, 56 children with lymph node inflammation for the positive control group, and 60 healthy children for the negative control group. Real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was conducted for detection of circulating miRNA-21, miRNA-23a, and miRNA-125b. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to compare the diagnostic value of miRNA-21, miRNA-23a, and miRNA-125b. Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used for prognostic analyses. RESULTS MiRNA-21 and miRNA-23a had significantly higher expression in cases than in positive and negative controls (all P<0.05). Overexpression of miRNA-21 and miRNA-23a were associated with staging, WBC, upregulated serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level, presence of lymphoma size ≥6 cm, and cluster of differentiation 10 (CD10) expression, while miRNA-125b expression had an association with staging and upregulated serum LDH level (both P<0.05). ROC curves of miRNA-21, miRNA-23a, and miRNA-125b presented an area under curve (AUC) of 0.759, 0.853 and 0.615, respectively. MiRNA-21 and miRNA-23a in combination had an AUC of 0.869. After treatment, both miRNA-21 and miRNA-23a expression were significantly decreased (both P<0.05). Advanced clinical stage, upregulated LDH, and lymphoma size of ³6 cm were related to low complete remission rate (all P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Patients with high expression of miRNA-21 and miRNA-23a had significantly lower complete remission rates and survival rates than those with low expression. Expression of miRNA-21 and miRNA-23a may serve as useful diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in children with BL.

[Immunological mechanism of wheezing attack in children with cytomegalovirus infection].

OBJECTIVE: To study the possible immunological mechanism of wheezing attack in children with cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. METHODS: A total of 25 under-5-year-old children with wheezing following CMV infection were enrolled. The expression of serum regulatory T cells (Treg)/T helper 17 (Th17) cytokines interleukin (IL)-10, IL-6, and IL-17, and peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets were determined. Twenty age-matched healthy children were selected as the control group. RESULTS: The wheezing group had a significantly reduced serum IL-10 level, significantly increased IL-6 and IL-17 levels, significantly reduced levels of natural killer cells, and significantly increased levels of CD8+ T cells and CD19+ B cells, as compared with the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Wheezing children with CMV infection have Treg/Th17 imbalance and cellular immune dysfunction, which may be an important immunological mechanism of the development of wheezing in children after CMV infection.

[A Method to Reconstruct Surface Reflectance Spectrum from Multispectral Image Based on Canopy Radiation Transfer Model].

Due to the lack of enough spectral bands for multi-spectral sensor, it is difficult to reconstruct surface retlectance spectrum from finite spectral information acquired by multi-spectral instrument. Here, taking into full account of the heterogeneity of pixel from remote sensing image, a method is proposed to simulate hyperspectral data from multispectral data based on canopy radiation transfer model. This method first assumes the mixed pixels contain two types of land cover, i.e., vegetation and soil. The sensitive parameters of Soil-Leaf-Canopy (SLC) model and a soil ratio factor were retrieved from multi-spectral data based on Look-Up Table (LUT) technology. Then, by combined with a soil ratio factor, all the parameters were input into the SLC model to simulate the surface reflectance spectrum from 400 to 2 400 nm. Taking Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) image as reference image, the surface reflectance spectrum was simulated. The simulated reflectance spectrum revealed different feature information of different surface types. To test the performance of this method, the simulated reflectance spectrum was convolved with the Landsat ETM + spectral response curves and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) spectral response curves to obtain the simulated Landsat ETM+ and MODIS image. Finally, the simulated Landsat ETM+ and MODIS images were compared with the observed Landsat ETM+ and MODIS images. The results generally showed high correction coefficients (Landsat: 0.90-0.99, MODIS: 0.74-0.85) between most simulated bands and observed bands and indicated that the simulated reflectance spectrum was well simulated and reliable.

ATG-Fresenius S combined with cyclosporine a: an effective immunosuppressive therapy for children with aplastic anemia.

For the first time, we conducted a 2-center retrospective study to show the efficacy of antithymocyte globulin (ATG)-Fresenius S plus cyclosporine treatment of children with severe aplastic anemia. From March 1997 to May 2011, a total of 124 patients (median age, 7.5 y; range, 1.5 to 16 y) from 2 centers with acquired AA treated with an immunosuppressive therapy (IST) regimen, consisting of ATG-Fresenius S (5 mg/kg per day for 5 d) and cyclosporine, were enrolled. The response rate was 55.6%. The median time between IST and response was 6 (0.5 to 18) months. After a median follow-up time of 29 (6 to 153) months, the rates of relapse and clonal evolution were 3.2% and 0.8%, respectively. Overall, 17 patients (13.7%) died in this study: 14 resulted from sepsis, 1 resulted from intracranial hemorrhage, 1 occurred after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and 1 resulted from clonal disease progression. The 5-year overall survival rate for the entire cohort was 74.7%. IST responders had a better survival rate (100%) than nonresponders (70.7%). The use of ATG-Fresenius S plus cyclosporine as a first-line immunosuppressive treatment appeared to be effective for children with severe aplastic anemia in our study. ATG-Fresenius S could be another option in the treatment arsenal, especially in countries where the other ATG products are harder to acquire.

Therapeutic effectiveness of sustained low-efficiency hemodialysis plus hemoperfusion and continuous hemofiltration plus hemoperfusion for acute severe organophosphate poisoning.

There is no report on the effects of sustained low-efficiency dialysis (SLED) plus hemoperfusion (HP) (SLED + HP) in patients with acute severe organophosphate (OP) poisoning (ASOPP). This study was designed to compare the therapeutic effectiveness between SLED + HP and continuous hemofiltration (CHF) plus HP (CHF + HP) in patients with ASOPP. In order to assess the two treatment methods, 56 patients with ASOPP were divided into CHF + HP group and SLED + HP group. The biochemical indicators, in-hospital duration, hemodynamic parameters, Acute Physiology, and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE II) score, and survival and mortality rates were compared. In both groups after treatment, the levels of serum creatine kinase isozyme MB, creatine kinase, creatinine, glutamic-oxalacetic transaminease, and glutamate-pyruvate transaminase, and the APACHE II scores on the first, second, and seventh day decreased (P < 0.05), whereas the levels of serum acetylcholinesterase increased. The two groups showed no statistical differences in in-hospital duration, biochemical indicators, APACHE II score, hemodynamic parameters, survival rate, or the mortality rate (P > 0.05). In conclusion, SLED has similar hemodynamic stability to CHF and the two treatment methods have similar effects on ASOPP patients. More importantly, SLED plus HP is relatively economical and convenient for patients with ASOPP in clinical practice.

[Effects of sublingual immunotherapy on serum IL-17 and IL-35 levels in children with allergic rhinitis or asthma].

OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical effect and mechanisms of specific sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) for the treatment of allergic rhinitis or asthma in children. METHODS: Thirty children suffering from Dermatophagoides farinae-allergic rhinitis or asthma (case group) and 30 healthy children (control group) were enrolled in this study. The case group accepted SLIT between January and December 2011. The ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and its expected value, the ratio of airway resistance and its expected value, peripheral blood eosinophil (Eos) count and serum levels of IL-17 and IL-35 were measured before treatment and one and two years after treatment. The rhinitis or asthma symptom scores were rated and the level of asthma control was monitored. RESULTS: Serum IL-17 level in the case group was significantly higher than in the control group before treatment and one year after treatment (P<0.01). Furthermore, serum IL-17 level in the case group gradually decreased from before treatment to 1 year to 2 years after treatment (P<0.01). By two years of treatment, there was no significant difference in serum IL-17 level between the case and control groups (P>0.05). The changes of serum IL-35 level after treatment were opposite to serum IL-17 in the case group. The ratio of FEV1 and its expected value gradually increased from before treatment to 1 year to 2 years after treatment (P<0.01) in the case group. In contrast, the change of the ratio of airway resistance and its expected value and Eos count gradually decreased from before treatment to 1 year to 2 years after treatment (P<0.01) in the case group. More patients achieved improved rhinitis or asthma symptom scores two years after treatment than one year after treatment in the case group (P<0.01). SLIT was effective in 85% of children with allergic rhinitis one after treatment vs 100% two years after treatment. Asthma control was observed in 76% of the asthmatic patients one after treatment vs 92% two years after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: SLIT is effective for allergic rhinitis and asthma in children, and the treatment period of two years seems to be superior to one year. The mechanism of action of SLIT for the treatment of allergic rhinitis and asthma may be associated with inhibition of IL-17 expression and promotion of IL-35 expression.

Associations between aberrant DNA methylation and transcript levels of DNMT1 and MBD2 in CD4+T cells from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: It seems that global DNA hypomethylation in CD4+T cells is linked to the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, the underlying mechanism by which SLE patients show hypomethylated DNA remains unclear. This study explored the relationship between DNA methylation patterns and expression levels of DNA methyltransferases (DNMT1) and MBD2 in CD4+T cells of SLE patients. METHODS: CD4+T cells were obtained from 30 patients with SLE and 18 normal controls. The global DNA methylation levels in CD4+T cells were evaluated by the Methyflash DNA methylation quantification kit. The mRNA levels of DNMT1 and MBD2 were quantified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: SLE patients had significantly lower global DNA methylation levels than controls, and the global DNA methylation was inversely correlated with the SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI). The mRNA levels of DNMT1 in SLE patients were significantly lower than that of controls and there was no correlation between DNMT1 mRNA levels and SLEDAI but there was a positive correlation between DNMT1 mRNA levels and global DNA methylation. The mRNA levels of MBD2 in SLE patients were significantly higher than in controls, and there was positive correlation between MBD2 mRNA levels and SLEDAI and an inverse correlation between MBD2 mRNA levels and global DNA methylation. CONCLUSIONS: Global DNA hypomethylation may play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of SLE. Abnormal expression levels of DNMT1 and MBD2 mRNA may be important causes of the global hypomethylation observed in CD4+T cells in SLE.

Measuring the Kuroshio Current with ocean acoustic tomography.

Ocean current profiling using ocean acoustic tomography (OAT) was conducted in the Kuroshio Current southeast of Taiwan from August 20 to September 15, 2009. Sound pulses were transmitted reciprocally between two acoustic stations placed near the underwater sound channel axis and separated by 48 km. Based on the result of ray simulation, the received signals are divided into multiple ray groups because it is difficult to resolve the ray arrivals for individual rays. The average differential travel times from these ray groups are used to reconstruct the vertical profiles of currents. The currents are estimated with respect to the deepest water layer via two methods: An explicit solution and an inversion with regularization. The strong currents were confined to the upper 200 m and rapidly weakened toward 500 m in depth. Both methods give similar results and are consistent with shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler results in the upper 150 m. The observed temporal variation demonstrates a similar trend to the prediction from the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model.

Analysis of clinicopathological factors associated with bone metastasis in breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women today. Once breast cancer metastasizes to bone, mortality increases. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify patients with high risk of bone metastasis, and to find predictive factors for the occurrence of bone metastasis at an earlier stage of breast cancer. Three hundred and sixty patients with pathologically proved breast cancer visiting the Department of Nuclear Medicine for whole body bone scan from January 2006 and January 2009 were investigated in this study. Clinicopathological information was obtained, which consisted of age, menopausal status, clinical staging, lymph node stage, histological grade, the expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Correlation between bone metastasis and the associated factors was tested by using the Chi-square test. A Cox multivariate analysis was used to assess the factors which independently contributed to survival after bone metastasis in breast cancer patients. Survival curves were drawn for metastasis-free interval and the independent factors which contributed to survival, using the Kaplan-Meier method. Twenty-four patients were excluded from subsequent analysis. Three hundred and thirty-six enrolled patients ranged in age from 22 to 77 years (mean, 47.8 years). ER/PR status [ER(+) vs. ER(-), χ (2)=4.328, P=0.037; ER(+)PR(+) vs. ER(+)PR(-), χ (2)=4.425, P=0.035] and histological grade (χ (2)=7.131, P=0.028) were significantly associated with bone metastasis. ER status (x (2)=8.315, P=0.004) and metastasis-free interval (χ (2)=6.863, P=0.009) were independent prognostic factors for survival in breast cancer patients with bone metastasis. Our study suggested that ER/PR status and histological grade are risk factors for the development of bone metastasis in breast cancer patients. However, ER status and metastasis-free interval are independent prognostic factors for survival in breast cancer patients with bone metastasis. Breast cancer bone metastasis has its unique characteristics, which is helpful to choose the appropriate treatment for breast cancer patients with bone metastasis.

[Clinical analysis of immune function changes in children with bronchial pneumonia].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate changes in serum complement, immunoglobulins and lymphocyte subsets in children with common and severe bronchial pneumonia, and the role of immune function testing in bronchial pneumonia. METHODS: Twenty children with common bronchial pneumonia, 20 with severe bronchial pneumonia and 20 healthy children (as controls) were enrolled in this study. Immunization rate scattering turbidimetry and six-color flow cytometry were used to detect changes in serum levels of IgA, IgG and IgM, complement C3 and C4 and CD3(+), CD4(+), CD8(+), CD16(+), CD56(+) and CD19(+) cells. RESULTS: The IgA levels of children with common and severe pneumonia were significantly lower than in the control group (P<0.05). The IgG level of children with severe pneumonia was significantly lower than in the control group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the levels of IgM and complement C3 and C4 between the two pneumonia groups and the control group (P>0.05). Compared with the controls, the children with severe pneumonia showed significantly lower CD4(+) and CD3(+) counts (P<0.05) and a significantly higher CD19(+) count (P<0.05), and the CD16(+) and CD56(+) counts of children with severe pneumonia were significantly lower than in the controls and in children with common pneumonia (P<0.05). There were no differences in CD8(+) count and CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio between the two pneumonia groups and the control group (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Immune dysfunction exists in children with bronchial pneumonia, especially those with severe pneumonia. Changes in immune function are correlated with the severity of pneumonia. Immune function testing in children with pneumonia has important clinical significance.

Etiology and clinical features of children with bronchiectasis in China: A 10-year multicenter retrospective study.

INTRODUCTION: The current study aims to investigate the etiology spectrum and the clinical characteristics of bronchiectasis in Chinese children. METHODS: The study is designed as a multicenter retrospective study. 193 cases were enrolled in 13 centers in China between 2008 and 2017. The inclusive cases must meet the clinical as well as the HRCT criteria. Only if both two radiologists confirmed the diagnosis, the case could be enrolled. The cases that could not provide clinical and imageology data were excluded. The data were entered into the specialized system and then analyzed. RESULTS: One hundred sixty-nine cases (87%) were found to have the underlying etiology. Post-infective (46%), primary immunodeficiency (14%), and PCD (13%) were the common causes. All cases came from 28 provinces in Mainland China. The median age of symptom onset was 5.8 (2.0, 8.9) years. The median age of diagnosis was 8.4 (4.5, 11.6) years. The main symptoms were cough, sputum expectoration, and fever during the exacerbation. Nineteen percent of patients suffered from limited exercise tolerance. Clubbing was found in 17% of cases. Nearly 30% of patients presented growth limitations. On the HRCT findings, 126 cases had diffused bronchiectasis, and bilateral involvement was found in 94 cases. The lower lobes and right middle lobes were most commonly involved. Approximately 30% of cultures of sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage were positive. CONCLUSION: A majority of cases could be found the underlying etiology. Post-infective, primary immunodeficiency, and PCD were the most common causes. Some clinical figures might indicate a specific etiology.

[Application of bacterial cultures of bronchoalveolar lavage fluids in children with pulmonary infection].

OBJECTIVE: To study the value of bacterial cultures of bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF) in children with pulmonary infection. METHODS: Bacterial cultures sampled from both sputum and BALF were performed on 80 hospitalized children with pulmonary infection between June 2008 and February 2011.Culture results between the two samples were compared. RESULTS: In the 80 children with pulmonary infection, bacterial cultures of BALF showed that Viridans Streptococci were found in 72 cases (90%), Neisseria in 41 cases (51%), Streptococcus pneumoniae in 11 cases (14%), Staphylococcus Aureus in 3 cases (4%) and Escherichia coli in 3 cases (4%). The positive rates of Viridans Streptococci in the bacterial cultures of BALF was not significantly different from the bacterial cultures of sputum, but the positive rate of Streptococcus pneumoniae in the bacterial cultures of BALF was significantly higher than in the bacterial cultures of sputum (4%). Moreover, Escherichia coli were found only by bacterial cultures of BALF. CONCLUSIONS: Bacterial cultures of BALF are useful in the identification of pathogenic bacteria for pulmonary infection in children. Due to the samples taken from the lesion regions in bacterial cultures of BALF, the results of may be more reliable.