Detection of respiratory pathogens and clinical features in 225 children with acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the respiratory pathogens and clinical features in children with acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma.@*METHODS@#Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from 225 children with acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma, aged <14 years, who attended the outpatient service or were hospitalized from August 2017 to August 2019. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to detect 12 pathogens, i.e., respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human rhinovirus (HRV), influenza virus A (IFVA), influenza virus B (IFVB), parainfluenza virus types 1-3 (PIV1-3), human metapneumovirus (HMPV), adenovirus (ADV), Bordetella pertussis (BP), Chlamydia pneumoniae (CP), and Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP).@*RESULTS@#The overall detection rate of virus was 46.2% (104/225), and 7 kinds of viruses were detected, i.e., HRV (19.6%, 44/225), ADV (16.0%, 36/225), IFVB (5.8%, 13/225), RSV (4.9%, 11/225), IFVA (3.6%, 8/225), PIV3 (1.8%, 4/225), and HMPV (0.4%, 1/225). Of all pathogens, BP had the highest detection rate of 28.4% (64/225), and the detection rates of MP and CP were 16.4% (37/225) and 0.4% (1/225), respectively. The mild exacerbation group had a higher detection rate of BP than the severe exacerbation group (P<0.05), while the severe exacerbation group had significantly higher detection rates of RSV and MP than the mild exacerbation group (P<0.05). There were significant differences in the proportion of children with paroxysmal cough, spasmodic cough, fever, lung rales and abnormal lung imaging findings among the simple BP infection, simple virus infection and simple MP infection groups (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSIONS@#BP, HRV, and MP are common respiratory pathogens detected in children with acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma, and respiratory virus infection is an important pathogen of acute exacerbation of asthma in children. Acute exacerbation of asthma caused by different pathogens has different clinical features and severities.

Clinical effect of propranolol in the treatment of respiratory hemangioma in infants and young children / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study the clinical effect of oral propranolol in the treatment of respiratory hemangioma in infants and young children.@*METHODS@#A retrospective analysis was performed from the chart review data of children with respiratory hemangioma treated by oral propranolol and diagnosed by bronchoscopy and laryngeal plain enhanced CT/MRI from November 2012 to December 2019.@*RESULTS@#A total of 20 children were enrolled. All children had improvement in the symptoms of laryngeal stridor and dyspnea after oral administration of propranolol for 1-2 days. The median treatment time was 10 months (range 6-12 months). The median follow-up time was 10 months (range 3-15 months). Of the 20 children, 19 (95%) achieved regression of tumor, and 1 (5%) experienced an increase in tumor size during reexamination at 6 months after drug withdrawal and had no recurrence after the treatment with an increased dose of propranolol for 6 months. Only 1 child (5%) had adverse reactions, and 1 child (5%) was still under treatment.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Oral propranolol can quickly relieve the symptoms such as dyspnea and achieve tumor regression, with few adverse events, and it is therefore an effective method for the treatment of respiratory hemangioma in infants and young children.

Effect of spinal cord hemisection on bone fracture healing in rats / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND: The nervous system has been proved to play an important role in fracture healing, and different nervous components exert different effects on bony callus.OBJECTIVE: To observe the callus volume and morphological changes in the fracture healing progress of the rats with spinal cord hemisection and fracture.METHODS: Forty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups, and the models of simple fracture and spinal cord hemisection by cutting the right spinal cord combined with fracture were established. The tibia was removed at 14 and 28 days after surgery, and the wet weight was measured, the fracture healing was observed by X-ray examination, morphological changes of the callus were observed through hematoxylin-eosin staining, and the expression level of calcitonin gene-related peptide mRNA in the broken bones was detected by SYBR Green qPCR.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: In the combination group, the wet weight of the contralateral tibia was more than that of the affected side (P < 0.05), which both were more than those in the simple group (P < 0.05). X-ray findings showed that the combination group had the largest lateral callus, followed by the affected side, and the smallest in the simple group.Hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that in the combination group, the contralateral cells arranged in disorder, while the fibrous callus and cells in regular arrangement were found in the affected side; there were bony callus and cells in regular arrangement in the simple group at 28 days after surgery. SYBR Green qPCR results revealed that the expression level of calcitonin gene-related peptide mRNA in the simple group was significantly higher than that in the combination group (P < 0.05). To conclude, complete innervation is a necessary factor for fracture healing.