Anti-HIV Compounds from the Deep-Sea-Derived Fungus Chaetomium globosum.

Chemical investigation on the deep-sea-derived fungus Chaetomium globosum led to the isolation of nine compounds. By extensive analyses of the 1D and 2D NMR as well as HR-ESI-MS spectra, their structures were elucidated as xylariol A (1), 1,3-dihydro-4,5,6-trihydroxy-7-methylisobenzofuran (2), epicoccone B (3), epicoccolide B (4), chaetoglobosin G (5), chaetoglobosin Fex (6), cochliodone A (7), cochliodone B (8), and chaetoviridin A (9), assorting as four phenolics (1-4), two cytochalosans (5-6), and three azaplilones (7-9). Compounds 1-3 were firstly reported from C. globosum. Under the concentrations of 20 µg/mL, 1, 2, and 3 exhibited potent in vitro anti-HIV activity with the inhibition rates of 70 %, 75 %, and 88 %, respectively.

Microencapsulated soil conditioner with a water-soluble core: improving soil nutrition of crop root.

Traditional level of fertilisers was used by most farmers in China with the risks about resources wasting, environmental pollution together with soil structure deterioration. It is practicable to tackle the challenges about over-fertilisation and low efficiency with microencapsulated soil conditioner (MSC), which clads the water soluble core with natural polymer. Fulvic acid (FA) can be used as core material, because it possesses the characteristics of water-soluble, fertiliser maintenance and expedient monitoring. The morphology, structure, and properties of MSC were studied and compared. The particle size of MSC was ranged from 1.58 to 2.14 mm with a similar shape which was obtained by conventional measuring method due to their soft features. This was mainly attributed to the concentration of liquid paraffin and the interaction between shell materials and calcium chloride. FTIR spectra showed that a peak appeared at 1372 cm-1, and this was ascribed to the microcapsules crosslinked and solidified by calcium ions. Sustained release experiment revealed that the microcapsules owned better fertiliser-retaining and water-retaining performances, and FA may be released as long as 750 h. Biodegradation experiments revealed that an obvious pore structure was found on the surface of microspheres after 30 d of degradation, and this was consistent with the sustained release experiment. Pot experiment illustrated that the plants cured with the microcapsules showed significant growth trend and grew up to 9.2 cm with a maximum rate, and this revealed that MSC owned better performance of promoting the growth of crop root.

FGF21 induces autophagy-mediated cholesterol efflux to inhibit atherogenesis via RACK1 up-regulation.

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) acts as an anti-atherosclerotic agent. However, the specific mechanisms governing this regulatory activity are unclear. Autophagy is a highly conserved cell stress response which regulates atherosclerosis (AS) by reducing lipid droplet degradation in foam cells. We sought to assess whether FGF21 could inhibit AS by regulating cholesterol metabolism in foam cells via autophagy and to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. In this study, ApoE-/- mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) with or without FGF21 and FGF21 + 3-Methyladenine (3MA) for 12 weeks. Our results showed that FGF21 inhibited AS in HFD-fed ApoE-/- mice, which was reversed by 3MA treatment. Moreover, FGF21 increased plaque RACK1 and autophagy-related protein (LC3 and beclin-1) expression in ApoE-/- mice, thus preventing AS. However, these proteins were inhibited by LV-RACK1 shRNA injection. Foam cell development is a crucial determinant of AS, and cholesterol efflux from foam cells represents an important defensive measure of AS. In this study, foam cells were treated with FGF21 for 24 hours after a pre-treatment with 3MA, ATG5 siRNA or RACK1 siRNA. Our results indicated that FGF21-induced autophagy promoted cholesterol efflux to reduce cholesterol accumulation in foam cells by up-regulating RACK1 expression. Interestingly, immunoprecipitation results showed that RACK1 was able to activate AMPK and interact with ATG5. Taken together, our results indicated that FGF21 induces autophagy to promote cholesterol efflux and reduce cholesterol accumulation in foam cells through RACK1-mediated AMPK activation and ATG5 interaction. These results provided new insights into the molecular mechanisms of FGF21 in the treatment of AS.

OxLDL induces vascular endothelial cell pyroptosis through miR-125a-5p/TET2 pathway.

Pyroptosis participates in the formation and development of atherosclerosis (As) by promoting inflammatory factor release and is closely related to the stability of atherosclerotic plaque. MicroRNAs can regulate the expression of target genes at the posttranscriptional level. Previous studies have shown that miR-125a-5p increases in hyperlipidemic-hyperglycemic conditions and is involved in apoptosis, but its specific role in pyroptosis and As remains unclear. We propose that miR-125a-5p may be implicated in oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL)-induced vascular endothelial cells (VECs) pyroptosis and therefore conducted the current study. We observed that miR-125a-5p can inhibit tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2 (TET2) expression at the posttranscription level, resulting in abnormal DNA methylation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and increased reactive oxygen species production, activated nuclear factor-κB that induces activation of inflammasome and maturation, release of proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1ß and IL-18, and pyroptosis. Given the role of VECs in vascular physiology, oxLDL-induced VEC pyroptosis may promote the development of As. Our current study reveals a novel pathway associated with pyroptosis program regulation, which comprises miR-125a-5p and TET2 in VECs. Modulation of their expression levels may serve as a potential target for therapeutic strategies of As.

Spirograterpene A, a Tetracyclic Spiro-Diterpene with a Fused 5/5/5/5 Ring System from the Deep-Sea-Derived Fungus Penicillium granulatum MCCC 3A00475.

A novel spiro-tetracyclic diterpene, spirograterpene A (1), was isolated from the deep-sea-derived fungus Penicillium granulatum MCCC 3A00475, together with two biosynthetically related cyclopianes, conidiogenone I (2) and conidiogenone C (3). The relative configuration of 1 was elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analyses, and the absolute structure was established by the modified Mosher's method. Compound 1 is the second example of a diterpene featuring a 5/5/5/5 spirocyclic carbon skeleton. It showed modest antiallergic activity.

Blumea balsamifera Oil for the Acceleration of Healing of Burn Injuries.

Blumea balsamifera oil (BBO) is a main extract obtained from Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC (Ainaxiang) leaves, which are widely used as a traditional medicine by the Miao and Li Nations to promote skin trauma or burn injury healing. This study was initiated to investigate the healing efficacy in deep second-degree burn model in rats. The rats were treated by BBO for 21 consecutive days. The rate of healing, scabs dropped time and re-epithelialization time were observed every three days for 21 days after burn injury. The samples were collected from different treated rats by sacrificing the animals on the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 9th, 14th, and 21st day post-burn creation. Then, the water content of burn tissue was measured. Plasma interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels were evaluated, and the tissue expressions of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-ß) were determined along with skin histopathology. The results showed that the water content of tissue was significantly reduced, the scabs dropped time shortened, and healing accelerated after treatment with BBO in the burn injury rats. Furthermore, the expressions of growth factors were significantly increased in the tissue; however, the levels of inflammatory factors on plasma decreased. This study confirms the efficacy of BBO consumption on burn injuries.

External application of the volatile oil from Blumea balsamifera may be safe for liver--a study on its chemical composition and hepatotoxicity.

Ainaxiang (Blumea balsamifera), also known as Sambong, is an important ancient medicinal herb in Southeast Asia. It is rich in volatile oil, and still widely used nowadays for skin wound healing and treatment of sore throats. We analyzed the volatile oil from Blumea balsamifera (BB oil) by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Forty one components, including l-borneol, were identified. Next, the damaging effects of BB oil diluted with olive oil on liver at different concentrations (100%, 50%, 20%), were evaluated, using both normal and wounded skin. Plasma ALT, AST, ALP and TBili were assessed, along with liver histopathology. The results showed that serum levels of liver toxicity markers in the high concentration groups (100% w/v) increased compared with control groups, whereas no significant changes was observed in histopathology of liver samples. In the wound groups, treatment with BB oil resulted in a decrease in serum toxicity index, compared with normal animal groups. This study confirms the safety of short term BB oil consumption, though high BB oil doses may lead to mild liver injury and this response might be weakened in the case of cutaneous wounds. These results are expected to be helpful for guiding appropriate therapeutic use of BB oil.

[Effects of chronic intermittent hypoxia on atrial electrical remodeling in rats].

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) on atrial electrical remodeling in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats, which provide the explication for the mechanisms of CIH promoting atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS: Eighty SD rats were randomly divided into 2 groups: control group and CIH group (n=40). CIH rats were subjected to CIH 8 h/d for 30 days. After the echocardiography and hemodynamics examination, cardiac electrophysiological experiments, histological experiments, and molecular biological experiments were executed. AF susceptibility was measured by isolated heart electrophysiological experiments. Masson's trichrome stain was used to assess the degree of atrial fibrosis. The protein expression levels of sodium voltage-gated channel alpha subunit 5 (SCN5A/Nav1.5), calcium voltage-gated channel subunit alpha1 C (CACNA1C/Cav1.2) and potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily D member 3 (KCND3/Kv4.3) were measured by Western blot. In whole-cell patch clamp experiments, current clamp mode was used to record AP, and APD90 and APD50 were analyzed and compared between the two groups. In voltage clamp mode, INa, ICa-L, Ito and their kinetic parameters were recorded and compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Compared to the control rats, atrial interstitial collagen deposition (P＜0.01) and AF inducibility (P＜0.05) were increased in CIH rats, whereas the expression levels of Nav1.5, Cav1.2 and Kv4.3 were decreased (P＜0.05). APD90 and APD50 in CIH rats' atrial myocytes were longer than those of control rats, and CIH rats showed decreased current density of INa, ICa-L(P＜0.01) and Ito(P＜0.01). CONCLUSION: CIH-induced changes in the protein expression levels of ion channel subunits, current intensity, APD, and AF susceptibility, which may be the mechanisms of CIH promoting AF.

AL-Net: Attention Learning Network Based on Multi-Task Learning for Cervical Nucleus Segmentation.

Cervical nucleus segmentation is a crucial and challenging issue in automatic pathological diagnosis due to uneven staining, blurry boundaries, and adherent or overlapping nuclei in nucleus images. To overcome the limitation of current methods, we propose a multi-task network based on U-Net for cervical nucleus segmentation. This network consists of a primary task and an auxiliary task. The primary task is employed to predict nuclei regions. The auxiliary task, which predicts the boundaries of nuclei, is designed to improve the feature extraction of the main task. Furthermore, a context encoding layer is added behind each encoding layer of the U-Net. The output of each context encoding layer is processed by an attention learning module and then fused with the features of the decoding layer. In addition, a codec block is used in the attention learning module to obtain saliency-based attention and focused attention simultaneously. Experiment results show that the proposed network performs better than the state-of-the-art methods on the 2014 ISBI dataset, BNS, MoNuSeg, and our nucluesSeg dataset.

Uncertainty Guided Multi-Scale Attention Network for Raindrop Removal From a Single Image.

Raindrops adhered to a glass window or camera lens appear in various blurring degrees and resolutions due to the difference in the degrees of raindrops aggregation. The removal of raindrops from a rainy image remains a challenging task because of the density and diversity of raindrops. The abundant location and blur level information are strong prior guide to the task of raindrop removal. However, existing methods use a binary mask to locate and estimate the raindrop with the value 1 (adhesion of raindrops) and 0 (no adhesion), which ignores the diversity of raindrops. Meanwhile, it is noticed that different scale versions of a rainy image have similar raindrop patterns, which makes it possible to employ such complementary information to represent raindrops. In this work, we first propose a soft mask with the value in [-1,1] indicating the blurring level of the raindrops on the background, and explore the positive effect of the blur degree attribute of raindrops on the task of raindrop removal. Secondly, we explore the multi-scale fusion representation for raindrops based on the deep features of the input multi-scale images. The framework is termed uncertainty guided multi-scale attention network (UMAN). Specifically, we construct a multi-scale pyramid structure and introduce an iterative mechanism to extract blur-level information about raindrops to guide the removal of raindrops at different scales. We further introduce the attention mechanism to fuse the input image with the blur-level information, which will highlight raindrop information and reduce the effects of redundant noise. Our proposed method is extensively evaluated on several benchmark datasets and obtains convincing results.

Role of pyroptosis in cardiovascular disease.

Cardiac function is determined by the dynamic equilibrium of various cell types and the extracellular matrix that composes the heart. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), especially atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction, are often accompanied by cell death and acute/chronic inflammatory reactions. Caspase-dependent pyroptosis is characterized by the activation of pathways leading to the activation of NOD-like receptors, especially the NLRP3 inflammasome and its downstream effector inflammatory factors interleukin (IL)-1ß and IL-18. Many studies in the past decade have investigated the role of pyroptosis in CVDs. The findings of these studies have led to the development of therapeutic approaches based on the regulation of pyroptosis, and some of these approaches are in clinical trials. This review summarizes the molecular mechanisms, regulation and cellular effects of pyroptosis briefly and then discusses the current pyroptosis studies in CVD research.

Clinical characteristics and treatment of spinal cord injury in children and adolescents / 中华创伤杂志(英文版)

Pediatric and adult spinal cord injuries (SCI) are distinct entities. Children and adolescents with SCI must suffer from lifelong disabilities, which is a heavy burden on patients, their families and the society. There are differences in Chinese and foreign literature reports on the incidence, injury mechanism and prognosis of SCI in children and adolescents. In addition to traumatic injuries such as car accidents and falls, the proportion of sports injuries is increasing. The most common sports injury is the backbend during dance practice. Compared with adults, children and adolescents are considered to have a greater potential for neurological improvement. The pathogenesis and treatment of pediatric SCI remains unclear. The mainstream view is that the mechanism of nerve damage in pediatric SCI include flexion, hyperextension, longitudinal distraction and ischemia. We also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of drugs such as methylprednisolone in the treatment of pediatric SCI and the indications and timing of surgery. In addition, the complications of pediatric SCI are also worthy of attention. New imaging techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging and diffusion tensor tractography may be used for diagnosis and assessment of prognosis. This article reviews the epidemiology, pathogenesis, imaging, clinical characteristics, treatment and complications of SCI in children and adolescents. Although current treatment cannot completely restore neurological function, patient quality of life can be enhanced. Continued developments and advances in the research of SCI may eventually provide a cure for children and adolescents with this kind of injury.

Unexpected antibody distribution among tumor patients: analysis of 111 483 cases / 中国输血杂志

【Objective】 To analyze the distribution of unexpected antibodies in tumor patients retrospectively and explore the clinical significance. 【Methods】 Unexpected antibody screening was performed on inpatients with blood preparation and blood transfusion in our hospital from January 2004 to December 2022, with 1 176 cases tested positive, and the types of unexpected antibodies and distribution characteristics were statistically analyzed. 【Results】 Unexpected antibodies were screened in 1 176 cases, with the positive rate at 1.05% (1 176/111 483). The unexpected antibodies were mainly anti-E 16.33%(192/1 176), anti-M 7.99% (94/1 176), anti-Mur 5.70% (67/1 176) and anti-Lea 4.76% (56/1 176). Among the 1 176 cases, gastrointestinal tumors accounted for 27.99% (329/1 176), gynecological tumors accounted for 24.84% (292/1 176), respiratory tumors accounted for 16.67% (196/1 176) . 【Conclusion】 The influencing factors of unexpected antibodies in tumor patients were disease type, blood transfusion history and blood type. Therefore, it is necessary for clinical departments to carry out unexpected antibody screening and perform Rh blood type matched transfusion for tumor patients to avoid alloantibody production.

Heartbeat-aware convolutional neural network for R-peak detection of wearable device ECG data / 南方医科大学学报

OBJECTIVE@#To develop a method for R-peak detection of ECG data from wearable devices to allow accurate estimation of the physiological parameters including heart rate and heart rate variability.@*METHODS@#A fully convolutional neural network was applied to predict the R-peak heatmap of ECG data and locate the R-peak positions. The heartbeat-aware (HA) module was introduced to enable the model to learn to predict the heartbeat number and R-peak heatmap simultaneously, thereby improving the capability of the model for extraction of the global context. The R-R interval estimated by the predicted heartbeat number was adopted to calculate the minimum horizontal distance for peak positioning. To achieve real-time R-peak detection on mobile devices, the deep separable convolution was adopted to reduce the number of parameters and the computational complexity of the model.@*RESULTS@#The proposed model was trained only with ECG data from wearable devices. At a tolerance window interval of 150 ms, the proposed method achieved R peak detection sensitivities of 100% for both wearable device ECG dataset and a public dataset (i.e. LUDB), and the true positivity rates exceeded 99.9%. As for the ECG signal of a 10 s duration, the CPU time of the proposed method for R-peak detection was about 23.2 ms.@*CONCLUSION@#The proposed method has good performance for R-peak detection of both wearable device ECG data and routine ECG data and also allows real-time R-peak detection of the ECG data.

Aberrant DNA methylation in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis, a multifactorial disease of large- and intermediate-sized arteries, is characterized by the accumulation of lipids and the proliferation of arterial smooth muscle cells, chronic inflammatory cells, and fibrous materials. DNA methylation involves inherent and acquired gene transcription changes, which occur independently of the DNA sequence. DNA methylation in the genome plays a major role in the development and progression of atherosclerosis. DNA methylation is a distinct and crucial mechanism that regulates genes governing cell proliferation, thereby linking environmental insults with gene regulation. DNA methyltransferases are crucial in maintaining endothelial cell integrity, promoting smooth muscle cell proliferation, and inducing the formation of arteriosclerosis in animal models. These enzymes, which influence DNA methylation in vascular cells, may be utilized to develop new diagnoses and treatments for atherosclerosis-related diseases. In this review, we focus on recent advances in the description and functional interpretation of the DNA methylome of cells and tissues involved in atherosclerosis. We also discuss the regulatory mechanism and the involvement of DNA methylation in the development and pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.

Relationship between tumor recurrence and immunosuppressants after liver transplantation / 中华肝胆外科杂志

Objective:To clarify the relationship between postoperative tumor recurrence and the type and dosage of immunosuppressants in patients undergoing liver transplantation.Method:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of patients who underwent liver transplantation for liver cancer from September 2007 to January 2019 at the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. According to whether there was tumor recurrence after liver transplantation, the patients were divided into the case group and the control group. The etiology, alpha-fetoprotein level, Child-Pugh score, model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score, and cancer nodules, number of tumors, diameter of largest cancer nodule, microvascular infiltration (MVI), large vessel infiltration, Edmondson grade of tumor differentiation, postoperative immunosuppression regimen, and blood trough concentration of tacrolimus or cyclosporine were compared between the two groups. The effects of calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) exposure in groups of patients on tumor recurrence were compared, and statistically significant factors were included in the Cox regression analysis. Using the BCLC staging standard of liver cancer, all the subjects were stratified, and the influence of CNI exposure on tumor recurrence was further analyzed.Results:This study included 50 patients. There were 15 patients in the case group, aged (45.8±8.2) years, with 13 males (86.7%). There were 35 patients in the control group, aged (45.4±12.0) years, 31 males (88.6%). The diameter of the largest cancer nodule in the case group was significantly larger than that in the control group [(5.9±3.0) cm vs (3.5±1.8) cm, P<0.05]. The tacrolimus exposure levels in the case group at 14 d after operation were significantly higher than the control group[(11.7±7.7)ng/ml vs (5.9±3.0)ng/ml, t=2.48], 1 month after operation [(12.2±4.5) ng/ml vs (7.8±4.3) ng/ml, t=2.82], 9 months after operation [(6.9±4.0) ng/ml to (4.7±2.0) ng/ml, t=2.21] and the area under the curve at 1 year after operation [(100.1±21.1) vs (74.4±19.2), t=3.66], all P<0.05. Survival analysis showed that the cumulative tumor-free survival rate of the CNI high-exposure group was significantly lower than that of the CNI low-exposure group (52.2% vs 85.2%, χ 2=6.52, P<0.05). Multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazards regression model showed that the largest cancer nodule diameter ( RR=1.23, 95% CI: 1.01-1.60) and high CNI exposure ( RR=4.02, 95% CI: 1.10-14.74) were independent risk factors for tumor recurrence after liver transplantation. Stratified analysis showed that of the 17 patients with BCLC stage B, 6 patients (66.7%) with high CNI exposure developed tumor recurrence, while only 1 patient (12.5%) with low CNI exposure developed tumor recurrence. The difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). Survival analysis showed that the cumulative tumor-free survival rate of patients with CNI high-exposure was significantly lower than that of patients with CNI low-exposure (33.3% vs 87.5%, χ 2=5.74, P<0.05). Of the 8 patients with BCLC stage C, 4 patients developed tumor recurrence with CNI high-exposure (100.0%). There was no tumor recurrence in patients with low CNI exposure. The difference between groups was statistically significant ( P<0.05). Survival analysis showed that the cumulative tumor-free survival rate of patients with high CNI exposure was significantly lower than that of low CNI exposure (0 vs 100.0%, χ 2=6.80, P<0.05). Conclusions:Tumor recurrence after liver transplantation was not significantly related to the type of immunosuppressant used. High CNI exposure was a risk factor for tumor recurrence after liver transplantation.

Design of Scalable Model of Cochlear Scala Tympani / 中国医疗器械杂志

For cochlear implant training and robotic cochlear implant experiments, the design method of scalable scala tympani model was proposed. The mathematical model of the cochlea was used as the central curve of scala tympani channel. Referring to the clinical anatomy data, the contour of the scala tympani cross-section was approximated as an ellipse. The profile was placed along the central curve, and the angle was adjusted to determine the position and orientation of the profile in three dimensions such that the central curve passes through its center. The data was imported into Matlab to generate a three-dimensional mathematical model of scala tympani, which can be expanded by setting different scale factors. The virtual scala tympani model was generated in SolidWorks, and the 2:1 fully transparent scala tympani model were fabricated by 3D printing to replace the specimen for experiment.

Application of bacterial culture, polymerase chain reaction and serum antibody detection in the diagnosis of pertussis in children / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

Objective:To evaluate the auxiliary diagnosis value of bacterial culture, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and serum anti-pertussis toxin immunoglobulin G (AntiPT-IgG) level detection in suspected pertussis.Methods:A total of 110 suspected cases of pertussis treated in the Department of Pediatrics of Wuhu No.1 People′s Hospital from June 2018 to May 2019 were recruited for the study.The nasopharyngeal swabs of all cases were collected for Bordetella pertussis culture and specific nucleic acid PCR detection.Serum samples of 78 cases were collected for the detection of AntiPT-IgG level by enzyme linked immunosorbent assays.Results:The positive rates of bacterial culture group and PCR group were 21.8% and 30.0%, respectively, with no statistically significant difference ( χ2=1.198, P>0.05). The culture positive rate of cases with the duration of cough<2 weeks was 32.1%, which was signi-ficantly higher than that of cases with the duration of cough about 2-4 weeks (14.3%) or >4 weeks (9.1%) ( χ2=6.522, P<0.05). The PCR positive rate of cases with the duration of cough <2 weeks was 39.6%, which was also significantly higher than that of cases with the duration of cough about 2-4 weeks (25.7%) or > 4 weeks (13.6%) ( χ2=6.126, P<0.05). The mean value for serum AntiPT-IgG level of 78 cases was (75.727±78.454) IU/mL, the median AntiPT-IgG levels of cases with the duration of cough<2 weeks and about 2-4 weeks were 5.909 IU/mL and 20.948 IU/mL, respectively, and the positive rates were 14.7% and 38.1%, respectively.The AntiPT-IgG level of cases with the duration of cough> 4 weeks and that at convalescent stage were (79.281±68.254) IU/mL and (107.242±75.750) IU/mL, and the positive rates were 39.1% and 57.1%, respectively. Conclusions:In the vaccine era, the results of pathogenic and serological tests should be combined to assist the clinical diagnosis of pertussis.The positive rate of bacterial culture and specific nucleic acid pathogen detection in children with cough duration less than 2 weeks is high, and the serological diagnosis is more effective after the duration of cough is over 4 weeks.

Clinical analysis of 134 case of gallbladder stones complicated with gallbladder carcinoma / 中国基层医药

Objective:To investigate the relationship between gallbladder carcinoma and gallbladder stones, and provide theoretical basis for the prevention and treatment of gallbladder carcinoma.Methods:A case-control study was used to retrospectively analyze the clinical data of 134 patients(study group) with gallbladder stones and gallbladder carcinoma treated in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Corps Hospital of Chinese People′s Armed Police Forces from January 2010 to December 2012.Another 134 patients with gallbladder stones were selected as control group, and the clinical characteristics of the two groups were compared.Results:The average age of patients in the study group was (60.5±11.7)years, which was significantly older than that in the control group [(49.6±10.3)years], the difference was statistically significant ( t=7.916, P<0.05). The history of gallbladder stones in the study group and control group were (9.3±4.1)years and (4.6±2.5)years, respectively, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant( t=11.682, P<0.01). The multiple stones, maximum stone diameter and maximum gallbladder wall thickness in the study group were 75 cases, (2.4±0.6)cm and (0.59±0.16)cm, respectively, which in the control group were 46 cases, (1.3±0.5)cm and (0.87±0.23)cm, respectively, the differences between the two groups were statistically significant(χ 2=3.978, t=6.217, 5.110, all P<0.05). The incidences of cholecystitis and jaundice in the study group were higher than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05). Conclusion:Gallbladder stones are one of the causative factors of gallbladder carcinoma.Early diagnosis of gallbladder carcinoma is difficult.Patients with high-risk gallbladder stones who are old, have a long history of gallbladder stones, multiple stones, large stone diameters, and thick gallbladder walls should actively undergo surgical intervention.

Extract of Naotaifang, a compound Chinese herbal medicine, protects neuron ferroptosis induced by acute cerebral ischemia in rats / 中西医结合学报

OBJECTIVE@#Our previous research showed that Naotaifang (a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine) extract (NTE) has clinically beneficial effects on neurological improvement of patients with acute cerebral ischemia. In this study, we investigated whether NTE protected acute brain injury in rats and whether its effects on ferroptosis could be linked to the dysfunction of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and iron metabolism.@*METHODS@#We established an acute brain injury model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats, in which we could observe the accumulation of iron in neurons, as detected by Perl's staining. Using assay kits, we measured expression levels of ferroptosis biomarkers, such as iron, glutathione (GSH), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malonaldehyde (MDA); further the expression levels of transferrin receptor 1 (TFR1), divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1), solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11) and GPX4 were determined using immunohistochemical analysis, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot assays.@*RESULTS@#We found that treatment with NTE reduced the expression levels of TFR1 and DMT1, reduced ROS, MDA and iron accumulation and reduced neurobehavioral scores, relative to untreated MCAO rats. Treatment with NTE increased the expression levels of SLC7A11, GPX4 and GSH, and the number of Nissl bodies in the MCAO rats.@*CONCLUSION@#Taken together, our data suggest that acute cerebral ischemia induces neuronal ferroptosis and the effects of treating MCAO rats with NTE involved inhibition of ferroptosis through the TFR1/DMT1 and SCL7A11/GPX4 pathways.