Establishment of a risk model for severe adenovirus pneumonia and prospective study of the timing of intravenous immunoglobulin therapy in children / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To develop a risk prediction model for severe adenovirus pneumonia (AVP) in children, and to explore the appropriate timing for intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy for severe AVP.@*METHODS@#Medical data of 1 046 children with AVP were retrospectively analyzed, and a risk prediction model for severe AVP was established using multivariate logistic regression. The model was validated with 102 children with AVP. Then, 75 children aged ≤14 years who were considered at risk of developing severe AVP by the model were prospectively enrolled and divided into three groups (A, B and C) in order of visit, with 25 children in each group. Group A received symptomatic supportive therapy only. With the exception of symptomatic supportive therapy, group B received IVIG treatment at a dose of 1g/(kg·d) for 2 consecutive days, before progressing to severe AVP. With the exception of symptomatic supportive therapy, group C received IVIG treatment at a dose of 1 g/(kg·d) for 2 consecutive days after progressing to severe AVP. Efficacy and related laboratory indicators were compared among the three groups after treatment.@*RESULTS@#Age<18.5 months, underlying diseases, fever duration >6.5 days, hemoglobin level <84.5 g/L, alanine transaminase level >113.5 U/L, and co-infection with bacteria were the six variables that entered into the risk prediction model for severe AVP. The model had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.862, sensitivity of 0.878, and specificity of 0.848. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed good consistency between the predicted values and the actual observations (P>0.05). After treatment, group B had the shortest fever duration and hospital stay, the lowest hospitalization costs, the highest effective rate of treatment, the lowest incidence of complications, the lowest white blood cell count and interleukin (IL)-1, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 levels, and the highest level of tumor necrosis factor alpha (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSIONS@#The risk model for severe AVP established in this study has good value in predicting the development of severe AVP. IVIG therapy before progression to severe AVP is more effective in treating AVP in children.

Role of p38MAPK signaling pathway in autophagy of Henle-407 cells induced by spvB of Salmonella typhimurium / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the role of p38MAPK signaling pathway in autophagy of intestinal epithelial cells induced by spvB of S.typhimurium.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Henle-407 cells in exponential growth were infected with wild-type S.typhimurium strain STM-211 (with spvB gene), spvB mutated strain STM-delata;spvB, or with delata;spvB-complemented strain STM-c-spvB after treatment of the cells with the p38MAPK inhibitor SB203580. At different time points of co-culture, the cells were collected and the intracellular bacteria were counted. Western blotting was performed to detect the expressions of phosphorylated p38 and autophagy-related proteins LC3 and p62; immunofluorescence staining was used to observe the expression and distribution of LC3.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>At 1, 2 and 4 h after the infection, the phosphorylation levels of p38 in STM-211 group and STM-c-spvB group were significantly lower than that in STM-delata;spvB group (P<0.05). At 2 and 4 h of co-culture, the intracellular bacterial counts were significantly greater in STM-211 and STM-c-spvB infection groups than in STM-delata;spvB group (P<0.05). Pretreatment with p38 inhibitor SB203580 did no significantly affect the expression levels of LC3 II or P62 in STM-211 and STM-c-spvB groups, but caused significant reduction in their expressions in STM-delata;spvB group at 1 h (P<0.05), and such changes were more obvious at 3 h (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The inhibitory effect of spvB gene on autophagy in intestinal epithelial cells is related with the negative regulation of p38MAPK signaling pathway.</p>

Low-dose daily de-escalatory administration of tadalafil for psychological erectile dysfunction / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of low-dose daily de-escalatory administration of tadalafil on psychological erectile dysfunction (ED).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We randomized 84 psychological ED patients into an observation and a control group of equal number to receive low-dose daily de-escalatory administration and on-demand medication of tadalafil, respectively, both for 2 months. We compared the scores on IIEF-5 and erection hardness (EHS) between the two groups before and after the treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The treatment and follow-up were accomplished for 79 cases, with 5 withdrawals in the control group. The IIEF-5 and EHS scores were remarkably improved in both the observation and control groups after treatment. The rate of therapeutic effectiveness was significantly higher in the observation group than in the control (95.2% vs 86.5%, P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Low-dose daily de-escalatory administration of tadalafil is highly effective and even better than on-demand medication of tadalafil for psychological ED.</p>

Low-dose testosterone undecanoate capsules combined with tadalafil for late-onset hypogonadism accompanied with ED / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the clinical effect of low-dose testosterone undecanoate capsules combined with tadalafil on late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) accompanied with ED.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ninety cases of LOH accompanied with ED who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into a control group and a combination therapy group, the former treated with tadalafil and the latter with low-dose testosterone undecanoate capsules combined with tadalafil. The LOH symptoms, IIEF-5 scores, sexual encounter profile (SEP) scores, prostate volumes, and the levels of total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (FT) and prostatic specific antigen (PSA) were recorded and compared between the two groups before and after treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The IIEF-5 and SEP scores and the TT and FT levels were 20.6 +/- 3.8, 4.02 +/- 1.08, (15.4 +/- 3.4) nmol/L and (0.391 +/- 0.062) nmol/L, respectively, in the combination therapy group after treatment, significantly higher both than 15.7 +/- 3.9, 1.49 +/- 0.82, (10.1 +/- 1.2) nmol/L and (0.200 +/- 0.045) nmol/L before treatment (P < 0.01) and than 8.6 +/- 3.6, 3.50 +/- 1.21, (10.2 +/- 1.2) nmol/L and (0.210 +/- 0.051) nmol/L in the control group after treatment (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Low-dose testosterone undecanoate capsules combined with tadalafil has a definite clinical effect and no obvious adverse reactions in the treatment of LOH accompanied with ED.</p>

Combination of compound Xuanju capsule and tamoxifen citrate for idiopathic oligozoospermia / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the clinical effects of Compound Xuanju Capsule combined with tamoxifen citrate on the seminal parameters of men with idiopathic oligozoospermia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We equally assigned 120 men with idiopathic oligozoospermia to receive Compound Xuanju Capsule plus tamoxifen citrate (experiment group) or tamoxifen citrate alone (control group). After 3 months of medication, we compared the concentration and total number of sperm with the baseline, and analyzed the influence of the duration of natural infertility on the therapeutic effect.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Both the concentration and total number of sperm were significantly increased in both the experiment and the control groups after 3 months of medication as compared with the baseline (P < 0.05), and the increases were even more significant in the former than in the latter group (P < 0.05). The therapeutic efficacy was remarkably better in the patients with natural infertility < or = years than in those > 3 years (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Compound Xuanju Capsule combined with tamoxifen citrate produces satisfactory results in the treatment of idiopathic oligozoospermia, and therefore can be used as a first-line therapy for this disease.</p>

Effect of ginsenoside Rg1 on behaviors and hippocampal amino acids in depressive-like rats / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of ginsenoside Rg1 on behavior and hippocampal amino acids in depressive-like rats.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>SD rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: control, model, fluxetine, low dose ginsenoside Rg1 and high dose of ginsenoside Rg1. The chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) was performed to induce depressive-like animal model. Fluxetine group was orally given fluxetine in dose of 10 mg x kg(-1) for 21 days, low dose ginsenoside Rg1 group was orally given ginsenoside Rg1 in dose of 20 mg x kg(-1) for 21 days, high dose ginsenoside Rg1 group was orally given ginsenoside Rg1 in dose of 40 mg x kg(-1) for 21 days. The control and model group was orally given saline for 21 days. The sucrose consumption was detected before and after the CUMS procedure. The horizontal and vertical activities of rats were determined by open-field test. HPLC was adopted to detect the contents of amino acids in hippocampus.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The sucrose consumption, horizontal and vertical activities in CUMS rats were decreased compared with those in control group. Compared with control group, the contents of glutamate (Glu) and aspartate (Asp) in hippocampus of CUMS group were increased, while the gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) and taurine (Tau) were decreased. Ginsenoside Rg1 treatment significantly increased the CUMS-induced decrease in sucrose consumption, horizontal and vertical activities. Administrated with ginsenoside Rg1 also decreased Glu and Asp and increased the GABA and Tau in hippocampus in a dose dependent manner.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Ginsenoside Rg1 could alleviate the behavior changes of depressive-like rats, which might be related to regulate the levels of amino acids in hippocampus during CUMS and prevent the neuro-toxicity of excitatory amino acids.</p>

Cloning of the glyceraldehydes 3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene of porphyromonas gingivalis and its expression in E. coli / 华西口腔医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To clone the glyceraldehydes 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene of Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) and to induce its fusion expression in E. coli.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>GAPDH was obtained by PCR and was inserted into cloning vector pMD-18-T to construct clone recon. Double enzymes digest the recon pMD18-T-GAPDH and the prokaryotic expression vector pET-32a and then connect to get the expressing recon pET-32a-GAPDH. The recombinant expression plasmid which had been confirmed by enzymes digestion was transformed to E. coli competent cells BL21 and induced the expression of GAPDH with isopropyl beta-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) of different density.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>DNA sequencing showed that the fragment was 99.802% the same to the sequence published in NCBI. Under the best density, IPTG could be highly expressed.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The GAPDH had been successfully cloned and expressed in E. coli which gets ready for the following experiment to study the immunity of GAPDH and the homologues antibody preparation.</p>

Jinleng undershorts palliates varicocele / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of Jinleng undershorts on the elevated scrotal temperature induced by varicocele as well as on other clinical symptoms of the disease.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty-one varicocele patients received the treatment of wearing Jinleng undershorts for 30 min twice a day for a course of 90 days. Comparisons were made between the scrotal temperatures and other clinical symptoms of varicocele before and after the treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After 90 days of treatment with Jinleng undershorts, the left scrotal temperature of the varicocele patients was significantly reduced from (32.16 +/- 0.79) degrees C to (31.53 +/- 0.77) degrees C (P < 0.01), and the right scrotal temperature decreased from (31.91 +/- 0.73) degrees C to (31.81 +/- 0.63) degrees C (P > 0.05). Compared with pretreatment, significant improvement was found in such symptoms as wetness, fever and swelling of the scrotum, backache, headache, dizziness, fatigue and anxiety (P < 0.05), as well as in testicular pain (P < 0.01) and IIEF-5 score, which was increased from 15.89 +/- 6.13 to 20.04 +/- 3.87 (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Jinleng undershorts can be used for the treatment of mild and moderate varicocele.</p>

Construction of prokaryotic expression vector of FimA gene from Porphyromonas gingivalis, fusion expression and purification in E. coli BL21(DE3)pLyS / 华西口腔医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To clone the FimA gene of fimbriae from Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) and to construct prokaryotic expression vector which was induced in E.coli BL21(DE3)pLyS in the form of fusion protein expression and to identify, purify the product of its expression.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>To clone the FimA gene of fimbriae from P. gingivalis and to construct prokaryotic expression vector pET15b-FimA vector which was transformed into the competent cells of BL21(DE3)pLyS. The expression of fusion protein was induced by isopropyl beta-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). With anti-6xHis Tag monoclonal antibody as the first antibody, the expressed fusion protein was characterized by Western blot and purified by Co(2+)-NTA affinity chromatography.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Cloned FimA gene sequences and inserted into expression vector of the FimA sequences were related to the sequence in GenBank database showed 100% homology. IPTG induced and then identified by Western blot showed a fragment of 4.1 x 10(4) has been expressed. Co(2+)-NTA affinity chromatography column was used to obtain high concentrations of FimA purified protein.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The recombinant prokaryotic expression vector of pET15b-FimA was constructed and was expressed and purified successfully in E. coli BL21 (DE3)pLyS. This study laid the experimental foundation to further prepare for monoclonal antibodies of fimbriae of P. gingivalis and to develop the subunit protein vaccine of prevention of periodontitis.</p>