Serum S-100 protein levels in children with Henoch-Schonlein syndrome and its clinical significance / 中华全科医师杂志

Seventy eight children with Henoch-Schonlein syndrome (HSP) admitted in our hospital from October 2013 to April 2015 were enrolled in this study,and 30 healthy children were also enrolled as controls.The serum S-100 protein levels were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)in two groups;and electroencephalogram (EEG) examination was performed in HSP patients.The serum S-100 protein level of HSP group (0.206 ± 0.101) μg/L was significantly higher than that in the normal control group [(0.060 ±0.042) μg/L,P ＜ 0.001];and the serum S-100 protein levels in patients with kidney type (0.284 ±0.099) μg/L and mixed type [(0.284 ±0.043) μg/L,P ＜0.01] were higher than those in patients with skin type (0.151 ±0.098) μg/L,gastrointestinal type (0.138 ±0.036) μg/L and joint type [(0.117 ± 0.065) μg/L,P ＜ 0.001].Abnormal EEG findings were detected in 52 cases (66.7％),however,no clinical manifestations of nervous system were found in those patients.Serum S-100 protein levels were higher in patients with abnormal EEG than those with normal EEG [(0.223 ± 0.099) μg/L vs.(0.173 ± 0.096) μg/L,P ＜ 0.05].The results suggest that the serum S-100 protein is associated with HSP disease severity,and children with HSP may have subclinical neurological damage.

Steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome accompanied with irreversible leukoencephalopathy：one case report / 临床儿科杂志

Objectives To analyze the diagnosis and management of steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) accompanied with irreversible leukoencephalopathy in children. Methods The clinical, laboratory and imaging data were retrospectively analyzed in a SRNS child accompanied with irreversible leukoencephalopathy. A literature review was performed. Results After clinical diagnosis of SRNS, glucocorticoid, immunosuppressant, and hemodialysis were administrated for 10 months. During the course of treatment, the seizures, visual problems, and hypertension were repeatedly occured. The cranial MRI showed bilateral occipital parietal lobe hyperintensity and right frontotemporal lobe hyperintensity on T2-weighted imaging and bilateral occipital parietal lobe hypointensity on T2-Flair imaging, which indicated that encephalomalacia was accompanied with gliosis. Conclusions A variety of reasons may induce leukoencephalopathy in children. The accompanied irreversible leu-koencephalopathy should be strongly considered in management of SRNS.

System approaches reveal the molecular networks involved in neural stem cell differentiation

The self-renewal and multipotent potentials in neural stem cells (NSCs) maintain the normal physiological functions of central nervous system (CNS). The abnormal differentiation of NSCs would lead to CNS disorders. However, the mechanisms of how NSCs differentiate into astrocytes, oligodendrocytes (OLs) and neurons are still unclear, which is mainly due to the complexity of differentiation processes and the limitation of the cell separation method. In this study, we modeled the dynamics of neural cell interactions in a systemic approach by mining the high-throughput genomic and proteomic data, and identified 8615 genes that are involved in various biological processes and functions with significant changes during the differentiation processes. A total of 1559 genes are specifically expressed in neural cells, in which 242 genes are NSC specific, 215 are astrocyte specific, 551 are OL specific, and 563 are neuron specific. In addition, we proposed 57 transcriptional regulators specifically expressed in NSCs may play essential roles in the development courses. These findings provide more comprehensive analysis for better understanding the endogenous mechanisms of NSC fate determination.