[Pleiotrophin stimulates growth and albumin secretion of rat hepatocytes in culture].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of pleiotrophin (PTN) on the growth of rat hepatocytes. METHODS: Primary rat hepatocytes were isolated from male Sprague-Dawley rats and divided into three groups: group A (negative control), cultivated in normal culture medium; group B (positive control), cultivated with culture medium supplemented with supernatant from the embryonic fibroblast 3T3 cell line; group C (experimental), cultivated with culture medium supplemented with human recombinant (hr) PTN (100 ng/ml). The hepatocytes' growth rate and level of secreted albumin (ALB) were evaluated by microscopy and biochemical assay, respectively. Significance of between-group differences were assessed by one-way ANOVA, and pairwise comparisons were performed by the least significant difference test. RESULTS: The growth rates of hepatocytes in groups A, B and C were 2.800+/-0.084%, 4.300+/-0.132% and 3.800+/-0.053%, respectively. The growth rate of group B was significantly higher than the other two groups (F = 333.735, P less than 0.05). For all groups, the highest levels of secreted ALB were detected between the second and sixth day of culture, with g/L concentrations at day 2, 4 and 6 of: group A, 0.550+/-0.010, 0.900+/-0.030 and 0.300+/-0.040; group B, 0.900+/-0.030, 1.300+/-0.020 and 1.400+/-0.030; group C, 0.900+/-0.010, 1.160+/-0.010 and 0.700+/-0.050. The secreted ALB of group B was significantly higher than that of the other two groups (F = 651.355, 338.831 and 863.205, P less than 0.05 ). CONCLUSION: PTN can benefit in vitro culturing of rat hepatocytes by stimulating growth and enhancing their ability to secrete albumin.

[Prognostic analysis and establishment of a prognostic model for patients with liver failure with hepatorenal syndrome].

OBJECTIVE: To identify the factors that may influence the prognosis of patients with hepatorenal syndrome and try to establish a prognostic model. METHODS: Data of 126 patients with hepatorenal syndrome were analyzed and 56 indexes that might affect the prognosis were focused on, involving history, symptoms, signs and lab findings. Cox model and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were used. RESULTS: Many factors were found to affect the prognosis independently, including hepatic encephalopathy (HE) and its degree, gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB), blood neutrophil count (N1) and serum creatinine (Cr). The prognosis model was established as the following equation where PI represents prognosis index: PI = 0.711HE + 0.836GIB + 0.052N1 + 0.002Cr (GIB: no = 0, yes = 1; HE: no = 0, phase I = 1, phase II = 2, phase II = 3, phase IV = 4). When PI < 1, the average survival time was 42 days; when 1 < or = PI < or = 3, the average survival time was 15 days; when PI > 3, the average survival time was 2 days. CONCLUSION: The results obtained from this study may help in estimation of diagnosis, analysis of illness state and evaluation of therapy in clinical work.

Anti-SARS-CoV immunoglobulin G in healthcare workers, Guangzhou, China.

To determine the prevalence of inapparent infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) among healthcare workers, we performed a serosurvey to test for immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibodies to the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) among 1,147 healthcare workers in 3 hospitals that admitted SARS patients in mid-May 2003. Among them were 90 healthcare workers with SARS. As a reference group, 709 healthcare workers who worked in 2 hospitals that never admitted any SARS patients were similarly tested. The seroprevalence rate was 88.9% (80/90) for healthcare workers with SARS and 1.4% (15/1,057) for healthcare workers who were apparently healthy. The seroprevalence in the reference group was 0.4% (3/709). These findings suggest that inapparent infection is uncommon. Low level of immunity among unaffected healthcare workers reinforces the need for adequate personal protection and other infection control measures in hospitals to prevent future epidemics.