Clinical Features and Differences of Miller Fisher Syndrome in Southern China: Retrospective Analysis of 72 Patients in 13 Provinces of Southern China

Background@#and Purpose We aimed to determine the clinical features of Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS) in southern China and compare them with those presenting in other countries. @*Methods@#We collected the medical records of patients diagnosed with MFS during 2013–2016.We analyzed the age, sex, onset season, precursor events, clinical symptoms and signs, findings of nerve conduction studies (NCS), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), therapeutic remedies, nadir time, and length of hospital stay of patients with MFS in southern China. We concurrently compared the differences between urban and rural areas and between patients with incomplete ophthalmoplegia (IO) and complete ophthalmoplegia (CO). @*Results@#The study enrolled 72 patients: 36 from rural areas and 36 from urban areas, and 50 males and 22 females. The mean age at onset was 47.72 years, and 30 (41.7%) and 21 (29.2%) patients developed MFS in spring and winter, respectively. The typical triad of ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, and areflexia was observed in 50 (69.4%) patients. A history of upper respiratory tract infection 1 week before onset was found in 52.8% of the patients, while 5.6% experienced gastrointestinal infections and 48 (73.8%) exhibited albuminocytological dissociation in the CSF study. Only 26 (36.1%) patients presented abnormalities in NCS. Moreover, restricted outward eyeball movement presented in 83.5% of the patients with classic MFS and acute ophthalmoplegia, and bilateral symmetrical ophthalmoplegia presented in 64.2%. With the exception of the higher proportion of NCS abnormalities in urban areas (47.2% vs. 25.0%), urban and rural differences were insignificant regarding sex ratio, age at onset, high-incidence season, precursor events, disease characteristics, and albuminocytological dissociation in the CSF. Furthermore, patients with CO were older than those with IO (64.53±7.69 vs. 43.19±14.40 years [mean±standard deviation], p<0.001). @*Conclusions@#The patients with MFS were mostly male and middle-aged, and most presented in winter and (especially) spring. More than half of the patients had clear precursor events, most of which were classic MFS with the typical triad. More than 70% of the patients presented albuminocytological dissociation in the CSF. NCS abnormalities were uncommon in MFS. The age at onset was lower in patients with IO than in patients with CO; bilateral symmetrical extraocular muscle paralysis was the most common symptom, and the external rectus was the most frequently involved muscle.

Research advance on the pathogenesis of autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay / 中华医学遗传学杂志

Autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay (ARSACS) is a rare and early-onset neurodegenerative disease caused by variants of the SACS gene which maps to chromosome 13q11 and encodes sacsin protein. Sacsin is highly expressed in large motor neurons, in particular cerebellar Purkinje cells. This article has provided a review for the structure and function of sacsin protein and the mechanisms underlying abnormalities of sacsin in ARSACS disease.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of Chaiyin Granules in treatment of influenza / 中国中药杂志

This study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of Chaiyin Granules compared with Oseltamivir Phosphate Capsules in the treatment of influenza(exogenous wind-heat syndrome). Based on a randomized, double-blind, positive drug parallel control clinical trial, this study evaluated the pharmacoeconomics of Chaiyin Granules with cost-effectiveness analysis method. A total of 116 patients with influenza from eight hospitals(grade Ⅱ level A above) in 6 cities were selected in this study, including 78 cases in the experimental group with Chaiyin Granules and Oseltamivir Phosphate Capsules placebo, and 38 cases in the control group with Oseltamivir Phosphate Capsules and Chaiyin Granules placebo. The total cost of this study included direct medical cost, direct non-medical cost, and indirect cost. The remission time of clinical symptoms, cure time/cure rate, antipyretic onset time/complete antipyretic time, viral nucleic acid negative rate, and traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) syndrome curative effect were selected as the effect indicators for cost-effectiveness analysis. Four-quadrant diagram was used to estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. The results showed that Chaiyin Granules were not inferior to Oseltamivir Phosphate Capsules in the remission time of clinical symptoms of influenza(3.1 d vs 2.9 d, P=0.360, non-inferiority margin was 0.5 d). Compared with Oseltamivir Phosphate Capsules, Chaiyin Granules would delay the remission time of clinic symptoms of influenza for 1 d, but could save 213.9 yuan. 1 d delay in cure time could save 149.3 yuan; 1% reduction in the cure rate could save 8.2 yuan; 1 d delay in antipyretic onset time could save 295.4 yuan; 1 d delay in complete antipyretic time could save 114.3 yuan; 1% reduction in the 5-day cure rate of TCM syndrome could save 19.2 yuan. Different from other indicators, there was no statistically significant difference between two groups in the effect of negative conversion rate of viral nucleic acid, but the cost was lower and the effect was superior, and the pharmacoeconomics was not different from that of Oseltamivir Phosphate Capsules in the field of influenza treatment.

Status quo of the treatment of spinocerebellar ataxia towards its pathogenesis / 中华医学遗传学杂志

Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) is a group of autosomal dominant hereditary diseases. Based on their inheritance pattern, they can be divided into SCAs caused by expansion of microsatellite repeats or point mutations. Although SCAs may be diagnosed based on their clinical characteristics and results of genetic testing, their treatment still remains as a challenge. So far no drug has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency. Strict preclinical trials are critical for the development of disease-modifying drugs.

Recognition of Y Fragment Deletion by Genotyping Graphs after Amplified by PowerPlex® 21 Detection Kit / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To recognize the possibility of Y fragment deletion of Amelogenin gene intuitively and simply according to the genotyping graphs.@*METHODS@#By calculating the ratio of total peak height of genotyping graphs, the statistics of equilibrium distribution between Amelogenin and D3S1358 loci, Amelogenin X-gene and Amelogenin Y-gene, and different alleles of D3S1358 loci from 1 968 individuals was analyzed after amplified by PowerPlex® 21 detection kit.@*RESULTS@#Sum of peak height of Amelogenin X allele was not less than 60% that of D3S1358 loci alleles in 90.8% female samples, and sum of peak height of Amelogenin X allele was not higher than 70% that of D3S1358 loci alleles in 94.9% male samples.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The result of genotyping after amplified by PowerPlex® 21 detection kit shows that the possibility of Y fragment deletion should be considered when only Amelogenin X-gene of Amelogenin is detected and the peak height of Amelogenin X-gene is not higher than 70% of the total peak height of D3S1358 loci.

Isolation and identification of lung cancer stem cells from NCI-H1650 cell line / 重庆医学

Objective To isolate and identify the lung cancestem like cellfrom the cell line NCI-H1650 .MethodThe NCI-H1650 cellwere continuously cultured in serum-free medium with human insulin ,recombinanepidermal grow th facto(EGF) ,recombinanbasifibroblasgrowth facto(bFGF) and bovine serum albumin(BSA) ,and paclitaxel waadopted to induce the stem cell.Flow cytometry and immunofluorescenstaining were used to analyze the expression levelof lung cancestem cell markeCD133 and CD326 .The expressionof stem cell related markeOct4 ,Nanog and Sox-2 were detected by RT-Pcand West-ern blo.ResultThe NCI-H1650 cellcontinuously cultured by serum-free medium and induced by combining paclitaxel induction showed the spherical suspension growth .Compared with NCI-H1650 cellcultured by serum ,CD133 and CD326 had significantly high expression and the expression levelof Oct4 ,Nanog and Sox-2 were significantly increased (P＜0 .05) .Conclusion Adopting the serum-free culture in vitro combined with paclitaxel foinducing NCI-H1650 cellcan effectively isolate the stem cellamong them.