Effects of sublingual immunotherapy on serum IL-17 and IL-35 levels in children with allergic rhinitis or asthma / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the clinical effect and mechanisms of specific sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) for the treatment of allergic rhinitis or asthma in children.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty children suffering from Dermatophagoides farinae-allergic rhinitis or asthma (case group) and 30 healthy children (control group) were enrolled in this study. The case group accepted SLIT between January and December 2011. The ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and its expected value, the ratio of airway resistance and its expected value, peripheral blood eosinophil (Eos) count and serum levels of IL-17 and IL-35 were measured before treatment and one and two years after treatment. The rhinitis or asthma symptom scores were rated and the level of asthma control was monitored.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Serum IL-17 level in the case group was significantly higher than in the control group before treatment and one year after treatment (P<0.01). Furthermore, serum IL-17 level in the case group gradually decreased from before treatment to 1 year to 2 years after treatment (P<0.01). By two years of treatment, there was no significant difference in serum IL-17 level between the case and control groups (P>0.05). The changes of serum IL-35 level after treatment were opposite to serum IL-17 in the case group. The ratio of FEV1 and its expected value gradually increased from before treatment to 1 year to 2 years after treatment (P<0.01) in the case group. In contrast, the change of the ratio of airway resistance and its expected value and Eos count gradually decreased from before treatment to 1 year to 2 years after treatment (P<0.01) in the case group. More patients achieved improved rhinitis or asthma symptom scores two years after treatment than one year after treatment in the case group (P<0.01). SLIT was effective in 85% of children with allergic rhinitis one after treatment vs 100% two years after treatment. Asthma control was observed in 76% of the asthmatic patients one after treatment vs 92% two years after treatment.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>SLIT is effective for allergic rhinitis and asthma in children, and the treatment period of two years seems to be superior to one year. The mechanism of action of SLIT for the treatment of allergic rhinitis and asthma may be associated with inhibition of IL-17 expression and promotion of IL-35 expression.</p>

Characteristics of recidivism in patients with mental disorders: 156 cases analysis / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To analyze the characteristics of recidivism in patients with mental disorders, including criminology, clinic and guardianship, in order to provide references for preventing recidivism.@*METHODS@#Using the self-designed questionnaire, 156 psychotic patients who had repeated crimes were appraised by West China Forensic Science Center of Sichuan University from 2007 to 2011 and the data were collected and analyzed.@*RESULTS@#In the majority of these cases, patients were male, 26-45 years old, junior high school or below diploma, unmarried, and farmers or jobless. Each patient broke law 3.26 times on average. The main crimes were intentional injury (34.6%) and murder (15.7%). Within 5 years after diagnosis with mental disorder, 56.4% of the patients committed first crime. Within 1 year after the first time breaking the law, 55.8% of them repeated crimes. The diagnoses of schizophrenia (63.5%) were in the majority. The assessment results were mostly irresponsibility (61.5%). Among the patients, 44.9% of them didn't receive treatment while 34.6% of them were out of supervision. After the first crime, 66.1% of them didn't receive criminal prosecution while only 7.1% of them went through the appraisement of forensic psychiatry.@*CONCLUSION@#Most of the patients had low education and low income. Meanwhile, low outpatient rate and pool supervision occurred in this special crowd. A good system for care and treatment of these mental patients should be built to prevent them from recidivism.

Clinical analysis of immune function changes in children with bronchial pneumonia / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate changes in serum complement, immunoglobulins and lymphocyte subsets in children with common and severe bronchial pneumonia, and the role of immune function testing in bronchial pneumonia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty children with common bronchial pneumonia, 20 with severe bronchial pneumonia and 20 healthy children (as controls) were enrolled in this study. Immunization rate scattering turbidimetry and six-color flow cytometry were used to detect changes in serum levels of IgA, IgG and IgM, complement C3 and C4 and CD3(+), CD4(+), CD8(+), CD16(+), CD56(+) and CD19(+) cells.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The IgA levels of children with common and severe pneumonia were significantly lower than in the control group (P<0.05). The IgG level of children with severe pneumonia was significantly lower than in the control group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the levels of IgM and complement C3 and C4 between the two pneumonia groups and the control group (P>0.05). Compared with the controls, the children with severe pneumonia showed significantly lower CD4(+) and CD3(+) counts (P<0.05) and a significantly higher CD19(+) count (P<0.05), and the CD16(+) and CD56(+) counts of children with severe pneumonia were significantly lower than in the controls and in children with common pneumonia (P<0.05). There were no differences in CD8(+) count and CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio between the two pneumonia groups and the control group (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Immune dysfunction exists in children with bronchial pneumonia, especially those with severe pneumonia. Changes in immune function are correlated with the severity of pneumonia. Immune function testing in children with pneumonia has important clinical significance.</p>

Application of bacterial cultures of bronchoalveolar lavage fluids in children with pulmonary infection / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the value of bacterial cultures of bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF) in children with pulmonary infection.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Bacterial cultures sampled from both sputum and BALF were performed on 80 hospitalized children with pulmonary infection between June 2008 and February 2011.Culture results between the two samples were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the 80 children with pulmonary infection, bacterial cultures of BALF showed that Viridans Streptococci were found in 72 cases (90%), Neisseria in 41 cases (51%), Streptococcus pneumoniae in 11 cases (14%), Staphylococcus Aureus in 3 cases (4%) and Escherichia coli in 3 cases (4%). The positive rates of Viridans Streptococci in the bacterial cultures of BALF was not significantly different from the bacterial cultures of sputum, but the positive rate of Streptococcus pneumoniae in the bacterial cultures of BALF was significantly higher than in the bacterial cultures of sputum (4%). Moreover, Escherichia coli were found only by bacterial cultures of BALF.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Bacterial cultures of BALF are useful in the identification of pathogenic bacteria for pulmonary infection in children. Due to the samples taken from the lesion regions in bacterial cultures of BALF, the results of may be more reliable.</p>

Criminological characteristics of female violent criminal suspects / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study criminological characteristics of female violent criminal suspects who accepted forensic psychiatry assessment.@*METHODS@#Information of the suspects involved in judicial appraisal between 2000 and 2009 were collected and analyzed according to our self-made scale.@*RESULTS@#The age of 259 suspects were between 16 and 81 years old. There were 205 (79.2%) suspects who were younger than 45 years old. There were 225 (86.9%) suspects who were married. There were 14 different appraisal results: schizophrenia 47.1%, without psychosis 15.4%, depression 10.4% and others 27.1%. Irresponsibility involved with 59.5%, partial responsibility 18.5% and full responsibility 22.0%. Murder were 85.7%, arson 10.4%, inflicted injury 1.9% and robbery 1.9%. A total of 191 cases resulted in death, accounting for 82.3% of all cases. In 34.9% of all cases, the victims were male spouse of the suspects. Main weapons used in the crime were cutters and other working related tools (36.3%). There were 66.8% of all cases were with pathological motivation, 29.7% with reality motivation and 3.5% cases were with unknown motivation.@*CONCLUSION@#Female violent suspects in our cases often suffered from various kinds of mental diseases. Their motivations were pathological primarily. Most cases were intentional killing with family members as victim mainly. Major weapons used were daily working related tools.

Urinary leukotrience E(4) level in children with asthma / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Cysteinyl leukotriene (CysLTs) plays an important role in airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma. Measurement of urinary leukotriene E(4) (LTE(4)) is a sensitive and noninvasive method of assaying total body CysLTs level. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of urinary leukotriene E(4) (LTE(4)) in childhood asthma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty children with acute asthma were randomly divided into montelukast (leukotriene receptor antagonist) treatment and conventional treatment groups (n = 30 each). Urinary LTE(4) levels were measured using ELISA and the airway resistance Rint was assessed by the lung function instrument at the acute and the convalescence phases. Twenty healthy children were used as the control group.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Urinary LTE(4) levels in asthmatic children at the acute and the convalescence phases were significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.01). The urinary LTE(4) levels at the convalescence phase were significantly reduced compared with those at the acute phase in asthmatic children (p<0.01). More significantly decreased urinary LTE(4) levels were noted in the montelukast treatment group than the conventional treatment group at the convalescence phase (p<0.01). In the acute phase, there was no correlation between urinary LTE4 level and Rint in asthmatic children.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Urinary LTE(4) level is significantly increased in children with acute asthma. Urinary LTE(4) is a useful marker for the diagnosis of asthma and can be as a predictor of asthma control and marker of susceptibility to treatment with leukotriene receptor antagonists.</p>

Relationship between Rhinovirus Infection and Asthma in Children / 实用儿科临床杂志

Objective To explore the correlation of rhinovirus infection and the morbidity of asthma in children.Methods The RV gene in nasopharyngeal secretion of 30 children with asthma acute exacerbation(asthma group),30 children in asthma clinical remission(remission group) and 30 healthy children (control group) were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).The total serum IgE(T-IgE) was determined by chemiluminescence.The eosinophil(EOS) count (EOS%) of peripheral blood and lung function were also measured.Results The rhinovirus infection rate was 36.67% in asthma group and 3.33% in remission group.No rhinovirus was detected in control group.The rate of rhinovirus infections in asthma group was significantly highter than that in remission group and control group(?2=7.50,13.47 Pa0.05). FEV1% was (62.73?13.54)% in asthma rhinovirus infection and (86.42?17.78)% masthma with no rhinovirus infection.There was remarkable difference between 2 groups(F=14.553 P﹤0.05). The T-IgE was (836.32?44.801) kU/L and EOS% was 10.63?4.09 in asthma group with rhinovirus infection.The total IgE was (439.10?231.28) kU/L and EOS% was 5.04?2.64 in asthma group with no rhinovirus infection.There was significant difference between 2 groups(U=2.475,F=20.806 Pa0.05).Conclusions There is a close correlation between rhinovirus infection and acute attack of asthma(or worsening asthma) in children. Asthma exacerbations would be likely to happened easier because of rhinovirus infection in asthmatic children with high T-IgE.