Airway foreign body caused by pepper inhalation 7 years previously retrieved under conscious sedation with spontaneous respiration: a case report.

A 26-year-old man who had inhaled a dried pepper 7 years previously was admitted to our hospital for repeated coughing with yellow sputum and occasional hemoptysis. A thoracic high-resolution computed tomography scan revealed a foreign body at the proximal end of the right lower bronchus. We attempted to remove the foreign body by flexible bronchoscopy, but this was unsuccessful because the foreign body fell deeper into the bronchus. After a multidisciplinary team meeting, the foreign body was successfully extracted by bronchoscope suction and forceps under conscious sedation with spontaneous respiration. We avoided rigid bronchoscopy and traumatic surgery, thus decreasing the patient's risk and cost. We herein share our successful experience with this case.

The prevalence of canine Leishmania infantum infection in Sichuan Province, southwestern China detected by real time PCR.

BACKGROUND: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is endemic in western China, and becoming an important public health concern. Infected dogs are the main reservoir for Leishmania infantum, and a potential sentinel for human VL in endemic areas. In the present study we investigated the prevalence of Leishmania DNA in dogs from Wenchuan, Heishui and Jiuzhaigou County in Sichuan Province, southwestern China, which are important endemic areas of zoonotic VL, detected by real time PCR. The results will help to design control strategies against visceral leishmaniasis in dogs and humans. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of Leishmania DNA in dogs was 24.8% (78/314) in Sichuan Province, with the positive rate of 23.5% (23/98) in Wenchuan County, 28.2% (20/71) in Heishui County, and 24.1% (35/145) in Jiuzhaigou County, and no significant difference was observed among the three counties (P > 0.05). The dogs were further allocated to different groups based on sexes, ages and external clinical symptoms. The logistic regression analysis revealed that a higher prevalence was found in older and external symptomatic dogs, compared to that of younger and asymptomatic dogs (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results revealed that L. infantum infection in dogs is widespread in Sichuan Province, southwestern China, which has a public health significance, due to its contribution to the transmission of the infection to humans by sandflies. It is necessary to take measures, including treatment or eradication of infected dogs, to control canine leishmaniasis, which could be helpful to reduce human VL in this area.

[Prevention and management of lung infections with thymosin alpha1 in critical patients with tracheotomy].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the preventive and therapeutic effect of thymosin alpha(1) on lung infections in critical patients with tracheotomy. METHODS: Forty-two patients were randomly divided into treatment group and control group to receive daily subcutaneous thymosin injection at 11.6 mg and saline of 2 ml for 7 days, respectively. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the infection rate, white blood cell count, C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukiu-6 were significantly lower in the treatment group. CONCLUSION: Thymosin alpha(1) can be effective for prevention and treatment of lung infections in critical patients with tracheotomy and may improve the patients' immunity and prognosis.

Altering Fibroin Heavy Chain Gene of Silkworm Bombyx mori by Homologous Recombination.

A gene unit, which encoded fibroin-like peptide, was synthesized and constructed. The unit was multimerized to about 2 400 bp using BamHI and BglII at each end of the unit, then was fused with gfp reporter gene. The fusion gene, flanked by the 5'and 3'sequence of the fibroin heavy chain gene of silkworm Bombyx mori, was transferred into the eggs of silkworm by electroporation. After the silkworms developed and spinned silk, 73 out of about 5 400 cocoons were brighter than normal ones under UV light. The protein extracted from the brighter cocoon could react with the GFP polyclonal antibodies. Genomic DNA from these silkworms and their progenies were analyzed. The integration of gfp gene into genomic DNA of silkworm and the occurrence of expected homologous recombination event had been proved by Southern hybridization. It was shown that gfp-fibroin like fusion gene had integrated into the genomic DNA of silkworm by homologous recombination and the phenotype of "brighter cocoon" could be used to select transgenic silkworms.

Transformation of Neomycin Resistance Gene (neo(R)) into Silkworm (Bombyx mori.L.).

Neomycin resistance gene (neo(R)) flanked by 5' and 3' regions of fibroin H-chain gene of silkworm (Bombyx mori.L.) was transferred into eggs of silkworm by gene gun in the early period of fertilization. The larvae were fed with an artificial diet containing neomycin in early 24 hours post transfettion, and some of them survived. The neo(R) encoding sequence in G(2) generation derived from the survivals was detected by Southern blotting. The results indicated that neo(R) could be used as a selective marker for studies on transgenic silkworm.