[Effects of vacuum sealing drainage technique in acute and chronic suppurative tenosynovitis of hand].

Objective: To investigate the effects of vacuum sealing drainage technique in acute and chronic suppurative tenosynovitis of hand. Methods: A total of 9 cases acute and chronic suppurative tenosynovitis patients from January 2013 to April 2015 in Puai Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology were retrospectively reviewed. There were 6 males and 3 females, aging from 27 to 65 years, the average age was 55 years. There were 3 cases of index finger, 3 cases of middle finger, 2 cases of ring finger, 1 case include three fingers. The infection causes included stabbing with fishbone in 3 cases, stabbing with animal bone fragments in 3 cases, wound by sawdust in 3 cases, meat grinder injury in 1 case, multiple fingers crush injury postoperative infection of garbage truck in 1 case. Bacterial infection included 2 cases with Staphylococcus aureus, 2 cases with Staphylococcus epidermidis, 1 case with normal Escherichia coli, 1 case with mixed infection of Enterobacter aerogenes, Klebsiella oxytoca and Staphylococcus, 1 case with Bauman Acinetobacter bacillus, 1 case with Proteus mirabilis and 1 case of no growth of pathogenic bacteria culture. After thorough debridement, vacuum sealing drainage was used to observe the characteristics of irrigation fluid, the formation of cavity inflammation, the prognosis of infection and the recovery of finger function. Results: Seven patients with suppurative tenosynovitis were treated for 7 to 14 days, replaced the vacuum sealing drainage dressing once; 1 patient was an illustration of the finger tip defect flap infected patients after 21 days of treatment, replaced the vacuum sealing drainage dressing twice, 1 patient was an illustration of the central refers to trauma, postoperative infection patients 28 d, replaced three times in the VSD. The follow-up time was 3 to 12 months (mean 8.2 months), 7 patients without tendon necrosis, secondary suture with no infection, 2 cases of traumatic surgery of patients with infection, tendon necrosis was removed, the infection has been effectively controlled, secondary suture with no infection. There were 6 cases were good and 3 cases were poor in the evaluation of postoperative finger function. Conclusion: Thoroughly debridement after vacuum sealing drainage in the treatment of suppurative tenosynovitis of hand has satisfactory curative effect.

First Report on the Occurrence of Cucumber mosaic virus on Fragaria ananassa in China.

More than 20 viruses are known to infect strawberry (Fragaria ananassa), and a substantial number of these include new viruses identified since 2000 that can contribute to disease complexes (2). The most serious virus related losses in commercial strawberries are caused by aphid transmitted viruses (3,4,5). A survey was undertaken from 2012 to 2013 to investigate virus prevalence in commercial strawberries in rural areas of Hebei Province around Beijing, China, that were exhibiting virus symptoms. Visual observations revealed that the incidence of virus-like symptoms ranged from 30 to 50% of the plants and these symptoms included yellowing, leaf malformation, sometimes combined with severe stunting and deformed flowers or fruits. Leaf samples were tested for Strawberry vein banding virus (SVBV), Strawberry mottle virus (SMoV), Strawberry mild yellow edge virus (SMYEV), and Strawberry crinkle virus (SCV), which are the four most prevalent aphid-transmitted viruses in single or mixed infections (2). Testing was conducted by RT-PCR using total RNA extracted from fresh symptomatic strawberry leaves (3). SVBV was detected in 58 of 190 samples, but all of the samples tested negative for SMoV, SMYEV, and SCV. Aphids were present on many of the plants, so the samples were tested for Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) because CMV is prevalent in Beijing gardens and farms, and recently had been shown to infect maize in China (5). This RT-PCR was carried out with the CMV primer pair CM420-F (5'-TGATTCTACCGTGTGGGTGA-3') and CM420-R (5'-CCGTAAGCTGGATGGACAAC-3') to amplify a portion of the capsid protein coding region and the conserved 3'non-translated regions of the genomic RNAs. This test revealed the presence of 43 CMV-positives out of 190 samples, and only 16 of these samples were co-infected with both SVBV and CMV. Samples infected with CMV only had leaf malformations and yellowing, while no CMV was found in symptomless samples. One of the amplified, CMV-specific DNA fragments was sequenced directly from the PCR product and showed 93.8% nucleotide sequence identity and 100% amino acid sequence identity to the CMV subgroup I (GenBank Accession No. D10538) (1). Subsequent ELISA tests for the CMV presence verified the RT-PCR results (Agdia, Elkhart, IN), and transmission electron microscopy observations revealed 28 nm spherical particles characteristic of CMV in strawberry samples tested positive for CMV. However, we were unable to detect either CMV or SVBV in 89 of the 169 samples from symptomatic plants, which suggested possible presence of the other pathogen(s). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of natural infections of CMV in strawberry plants. These data suggests that CMV is a potential threat to strawberry production. References: (1) M. Q. K. Andrew et al. Virus taxonomy: IXth Report of the ICTV, 970, Elsevier, 2012. (2) R. R. Martin and I. E. Tzanetakis. Plant Dis. 97:1358, 2013. (3) J. R. Thompson et al. J. Virol. Methods 111:85, 2003. (4) I. E. Tzanetakis et al. Plant Dis. 90:1343, 2006. (5) R. Wang et al. J. Phytopathol. 161: 880, 2013.

Characteristics of polyethersulfone/sulfonated polyimide blend membrane for proton exchange membrane fuel cell.

Solution-cast membranes from sulfonated polyimide (SPI) and its blend were prepared from polyethersulfone (PES) and SPI. The water uptake and swelling were tested and compared between the SPI membrane and the four kinds of blend membranes. Through comparison of the stability of the membranes, we concluded that the PES could greatly increase the stability of the whole membrane and restrict the swelling. However, the PES did not decrease the water uptake very much. We also compared the fuel cell performance with different membranes. The performance was decreased when the content of the PES in the blend membrane increased. The loss of the fuel cell performance with the blend membranes did not decrease very much before the content of the PES was exceeded 20%. It was prospected that the blend membrane could increase the stability of the SPI and, more importantly, even replace the commercial Nafion membranes.

Evidence of anti-obesity effects of the pomegranate leaf extract in high-fat diet induced obese mice.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the anti-obesity effects of the pomegranate leaf extract (PLE) in a mouse model of high-fat diet induced obesity and hyperlipidemia. DESIGN: For the anti-obesity experiment, male and female ICR mice were fed with a high-fat diet to induce obesity. When the weight of the high-fat diet group was 20% higher than the normal diet group, the animals were treated with 400 or 800 mg/kg/day of PLE for 5 weeks. Body weight and daily food intake were measured regularly during the experimental period. The various adipose pads were weighed and serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), glucose and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured after 5 weeks, treatment with PLE. In the fat absorption experiment, both the normal and obese mice were given 0.5 ml lipid emulsion and PLE at a dose of 800 mg/kg at the same time. Serial serum TG levels were measured at times 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 h after the treatment. TGs in fecal excretions were measured after the mice were orally given a lipid emulsion. Effects of PLE and its isolated compounds (ellagic acid and tannic acid) on pancreatic lipase activity were examined in vitro. RESULTS: The PLE-treated groups showed a significant decrease in body weight, energy intake and various adipose pad weight percents and serum, TC, TG, glucose levels and TC/HDL-C ratio after 5 weeks treatment. Furthermore, PLE significantly attenuated the raising of the serum TG level and inhibited the intestinal fat absorption in mice given a fat emulsion orally. PLE showed a significant difference in decreasing the appetite of obese mice fed a high-fat diet, but showed no effect in mice fed a normal diet. CONCLUSION: PLE can inhibit the development of obesity and hyperlipidemia in high-fat diet induced obese mice. The effects appear to be partly mediated by inhibiting the pancreatic lipase activity and suppressing energy intake. PLE may be a novel appetite suppressant that only affects obesity owing to a high-fat diet.