Clinical application of Chinese Nanjing persistent vegetative state scale.

BACKGROUND: It is a challenge to characterize the consciousness level of patients with severe disturbance of consciousness and predict their prognosis effectively for Chinese doctors. We aimed to investigate the psychometric property and the diagnostic practicality of severe disturbance of consciousness by Chinese Nanjing persistent vegetative state scale (CNPVSS) which was first set up in 1996 and modified in 2001 and 2011. METHODS: The concurrent validity, inter-rater consistency and diagnostic accuracy of CNPVSS and Chinese version of coma recovery scale-revised (CRS-R) were investigated by assessment of 380 patients with severe disorders of consciousness. RESULTS: Total scores of the CNPVSS were correlated significantly with that of the CRS-R, indicating acceptable concurrent validity. Sub-scale analysis showed moderate to high inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability. CNPVSS was superior to CRS-R on the diagnosis sensitivity. The CNPVSS was able to distinguish 65 patients in emergence from minimal consciousness state who were misclassified as in minimal consciousness state (MCS) by the CRS-R, and it could also distinguish two patients in MCS who were misclassified as in vegetative state by the CRS-R. CONCLUSION: The CNPVSS is an appropriate measurement and is sensitive to distinguish the MCS patients from the VS patients.

[Study on excretion of 20 (S) -protopanaxadiolocotillol type epimers in rats].

Gindenosides are the active ingredients of Panax ginseng. 20 (S) -protopanaxadiolocotillol type epimers are the main metabolites of 20 (S) -protopanaxadiol. The previous studies showed that there are stereoselectivity difference in pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics between 24R-epimer and 24S-epimer. The purpose of this study was to explore the excretion of the epimers in bile, feces and urine of rat. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method has been performed for determination of 24R-epimer and 24S-epimer in bile, feces and urine. 24R-epimer or 24S-epimer was intragastric administered to rats at a single dose of 10 mg x kg(-1). Results showed that after administration the recovery of 24R-epimer and 24S-epimer in feces was 17.69% and 17.09%, respectively, while both of the two epimers were hardly detected in urine. The 48 h cumulative biliary excretion rate of 24R-epimer was 8.01% after administration, while only 1.47% for 24S-epimer. It indicated that there are stereoselectivity in biliary excretion of the epimers with intragastric administration.

Biodegradation of chloroacetamide herbicides by Paracoccus sp. FLY-8 in vitro.

A butachlor-degrading strain, designated FLY-8, was isolated from rice field soil and was identified as Paracoccus sp. Strain FLY-8 could degrade and utilize six chloroacetamide herbicides as carbon sources for growth, and the degradation rates followed the order alachlor > acetochlor > propisochlor > butachlor > pretilachlor > metolachlor. The influence of molecular structure of the chloroacetamide herbicides on the microbial degradation rate was first analyzed; the results indicated that the substitutions of alkoxymethyl side chain with alkoxyethyl side chain greatly reduced the degradation efficiencies; the length of amide nitrogen's alkoxymethyl significantly affected the biodegradability of these herbicides: the longer the alkyl was, the slower the degradation efficiencies occurred. The phenyl alkyl substituents have no obvious influence on the degradation efficiency. The pathway of butachlor complete mineralization was elucidated on the basis of the results of metabolite identification and enzyme assays. Butachlor was degraded to alachlor by partial C-dealkylation and then converted to 2-chloro-N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)acetamide by N-dealkylation, which subsequently transformed to 2,6-diethylaniline, which was further degraded via the metabolites aniline and catechol, and catechol was oxidized through an ortho-cleavage pathway. This study highlights an important potential use of strain FLY-8 for the in situ bioremediation of chloroacetamide herbicides and their metabolite-contaminated environment.

Rhodanobacter xiangquanii sp. nov., a novel anilofos-degrading bacterium isolated from a wastewater treating system.

A Gram-staining-negative, oxidase-positive, catalase-positive, non-motile, non-spore-forming, and rod-shaped bacterium, designated BJQ-6(T), was isolated from activated sludge of a waste-water treatment plant in Jiangsu Province, China. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain BJQ-6(T) belonged to the genus Rhodanobacter, and shared 98.7% similarity with Rhodanobacter lindaniclasticus LMG 18385(T) and <97% similarities with other Rhodanobacter species. The major fatty acids were iso-C15:0 (17.6%), iso-C16:0 (19.3%), and Summed feature 9 (isoC17:1 ω9c and/or C16:0 10-methyl) (25.8%). The DNA G+C content of strain BJQ-6(T) was 64.8 mol%. Based on the phenotypic and phylogenetic considerations, strain BJQ-6(T) represents a novel species of the genus Rhodanobacter, for which the name Rhodanobacter xiangquanii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BJQ-6(T) (=CCTCC AB 2010106(T) =KCTC 23100(T)).

Description of Catellibacterium caeni sp. nov., reclassification of Rhodobacter changlensis Anil Kumar et al. 2007 as Catellibacterium changlense comb. nov. and emended description of the genus Catellibacterium.

A novel non-sporulating, non-motile, catalase- and oxidase-positive, strictly aerobic, Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated DCA-1(T), was isolated from activated sludge collected from a butachlor wastewater treatment facility. The strain was able to degrade about 85 % of 100 mg butachlor l(-1) within 5 days of incubation. Growth occurred in the presence of 0-6 % (w/v) NaCl [optimum, 1 % (w/v) NaCl] and at pH 5.5-9.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and 15-35 °C (optimum, 25-30 °C). Vesicular internal membrane structures and photoheterotrophic growth were not observed. The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone 10 (Q-10) and the major cellular fatty acids were C(18 : 1)ω7c and 11-methyl C(18 : 1)ω7c. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain DCA-1(T) was 62.5 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison revealed that strain DCA-1(T) was a member of the family Rhodobacteraceae and was related most closely to the type strain of Catellibacterium aquatile (96.5 % sequence similarity). The combination of phylogenetic analysis, phenotypic characteristics and chemotaxonomic data supports the suggestion that strain DCA-1(T) represents a novel species of the genus Catellibacterium, for which the name Catellibacterium caeni sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DCA-1(T) ( = CGMCC 1.7745(T)  = DSM 21823(T)). In addition, based on the characterization data obtained in this study, it is proposed that Rhodobacter changlensis should be reclassified as Catellibacterium changlense comb. nov. (type strain JA139(T)  = DSM 18774(T)  = CCUG 53722(T)  = JCM 14338(T)). An emended description of the genus Catellibacterium is also presented.