Application of fluorescent real-time polymerase chain reaction in analyzing the epidemic of influenza among children in Guangzhou area in 2006 / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the prevalence of influenza virus infections in children in 2006 using the real-time PCR method.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>(1) Consulting the most conserved sequence NP gene of influenza virus, after comparing with the NP gene sequences of influenza virus in GenBank, one pair of specific primers and one TaqMan probe were designed for each subtype of influenza virus by the software Primer Express. The sensitivity of influenza was evaluated by testing known positive samples which had been two-fold diluted. The specificity of real-time PCR for influenza virus detection was assessed by cross testing 60 isolates of influenza A, 16 isolates of influenza B, and by testing a variety of other respiratory viruses positive samples; (2) 281 nasopharyngeal aspirate samples were detected by real-time PCR and virus isolation; (3) the 12 301 specimens from the patients of Guangzhou Children's Hospital were tested by using the real-time PCR method. Furthermore, the real-time PCR reagent was evaluated by comparing with the result of virus isolation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) The sensitivity of real-time PCR developed in this study for influenza A detection was 1:2(22) and for influenza B was 1:2(20) in two-fold serially diluted way. (2) No positive results were found in cross testing of other viruses positive specimens. (3) Influenza virus was detected from 1687 cases (13.71%) out of the 12 301 cases, including 773 cases (45.8%) positive for subtype A and 914 cases (54.2%) positive for subtype B; 455 out of 525 (86.7%) of influenza B positive specimens and 70 out of 525 (13.3%) of influenza A (H1N1) positive specimens were from patients seen during January to April; 419 out of 1118 (37.5%) specimens positive for influenza B and 699 out of 1118 (62.5%) specimens positive for influenza A (H1N1) were from patients seen from May to August. Influenza virus could be identified from 1380 samples by the methods of virus isolation, accounting for 81.80% of the 1687 positive samples detected by real-time PCR. All the influenza virus subtype A was H1N1.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The real-time PCR method developed in this study was sensitive and specific for detecting influenza A and B in clinical specimens. During 2006, influenza A and influenza B co-circulated. The predominant virus was influenza B from January to April, peaking in April. Influenza A (H1N1) prevailed from May to August, with the peak in June.</p>

Protective effects of Sini decoction on adriamycin-induced heart failure and its mechanism: role of superoxide dismutase / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the role of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in Adriamycin (ADR)-induced heart failure and the protective effects of Sini decoction (SND).</p><p><b>METHOD</b>SD rats were randomly divided into three groups, control group, heart failure group and SND group. ADR was injected in the rats of heart failure group and SND group by caudal vein. After injection, the rats in SND group were given SND (3.75 g x kg(-1) x d(-1), p.o.). Three weeks later, cardiac function, content of malondialdehyde (MDA) of both myocardium and mitochondria and activity of Cu-Zn SOD and Mn SOD were measured. The mRNA expression of Cu-Zn SOD and Mn SOD were also detected by RT-PCR.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Compared with control group, LVSP and +/- dp/dt max were obviously decreased, while LVEDP was markedly increased in the heart failure group. The mRNA expression and the activity of Cu-Zn SOD and Mn SOD in heart failure group were obviously lower than that in the controls'. In addition, the MDA content of both myocardium and mitochondria were clearly increased in heart failure rats. In SND-treated rats, the cardiac function, the activity and the mRNA expression of Cu-Zn SOD and Mn SOD were significantly elevated and the content of MDA was reduced, which had no statistic difference with the rats in control group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The data suggest that oxidative stress is present in the mitochondria of myocardium in ADR-induced heart failure rats and it can be eased by SND. The mechanism may be closely related to SOD.</p>