[Value of color Doppler ultrasound in the examination of prethrombotic state].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical value of color Doppler ultrasound in patients with prethrombotic state (PTS). METHODS: From October 2011 to November 2012, a total of 201 patients were diagnosed with PTS. There were 95 males and 106 females with an average age of 52 years (range: 15-78). They were divided into intervention and observation groups on the basis of drug intervention. And the relevant literatures were reviewed and the images of color Doppler ultrasound before and after treatment compared. RESULTS: Before treatment, blood flow peak rates of common femoral, popliteal and calf intermuscular veins were (0.16 ± 0.03), (0.14 ± 0.03) and (0.13 ± 0.02) m/s; after treatment, (0.19 ± 0.03), (0.17 ± 0.03) and (0.15 ± 0.01) m/s respectively. The peak flow increased and sluggish flow decreased or disappeared in 152 PS patients. It indicated a relief or an obvious resolution of hypercoagulable state. And the symptom of lower extremity soreness was greatly relieved. Among 49 patients without drug intervention, severe full-lumen storm floating occurred in 12 cases. And 8 of them suffered deep vein thrombosis within 2 weeks. The incidence of thrombus was 66.7%. CONCLUSION: Color Doppler ultrasound may detect and assess PTS effectively so as to guide effective interventions.

Seasonal dynamics of ammonia/ammonium-oxidizing prokaryotes in oxic and anoxic wetland sediments of subtropical coastal mangrove.

Mangrove wetlands are an important ecosystem in tropical and subtropical regions, and the sediments may contain both oxic and anoxic zones. In this study, ammonia/ammonium-oxidizing prokaryotes (AOPs) in yellow and black sediments with vegetation and non-vegetated sediments in a mangrove wetland of subtropical Hong Kong were investigated in winter and summer. The phylogenetic diversity of anammox bacterial 16S rRNA genes and archaeal and bacterial amoA genes (encoding ammonia monooxygenase alpha-subunit) were analyzed using PCR amplification and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis to reveal their community structures. Quantitative PCR was also used to detect their gene abundances. The results showed that seasonality had little effect, but sediment type had a noticeable influence on the community structures and abundances of anammox bacteria. For ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), seasonality had a small effect on their community structures, but a significant effect on their abundances: AOA amoA genes were significantly higher in winter than in summer. In winter, the vegetated yellow sediments had lower AOA amoA genes than the other types of sediments, but in summer, the vegetated yellow sediments had higher AOA amoA genes than the other types of sediments. Sediment type had no apparent effect on AOA community structures in winter. In summer, however, the vegetated yellow sediments showed obviously different AOA community structures from the other types of sediments. For ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), seasonality had a significant effect on their community structures and abundances: AOB amoA genes in winter were apparently higher than in summer, and AOB community structures were different between winter and summer. Sediment type had little effect on AOB community structures, but had a noticeable effect on the abundances: AOB amoA genes of the vegetated yellow sediments were obviously lower than the black ones in both seasons. This study has demonstrated that seasonality and sediment type affected community structures and abundances of AOPs differently in oxic and anoxic sediments of the mangrove wetland.

[Isolation, charcaterization of an anthracene degrading bacterium Martelella sp. AD-3 and cloning of dioxygenase gene].

Anthracene, among the 16 US EPA polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), is a typical low molecular weight environmental contaminant, which gains concern on its biodegradation under hypersaline condition. In this study, an anthracene-degrading bacterial strain was isolated from highly saline petroleum-contaminated soil. Based on its physiological, biochemical characteristics and 16S rDNA sequence analysis, the bacteria was preliminary identified and named as Martelella sp. AD-3. The strain was able to utilize anthracene as sole carbon source for growth and the degradation occurred under broad salinities (0.1% to 10%) and varying pHs (6.0 to 10.0). The optimized degradation conditions were initial concentration 25 mg x L(-1), culture temperature 30 degrees C, pH 9.0 and salinity 3%. And 94.6% of anthracene was degraded by strain AD-3 under the optimal conditions within 6 days. Degenerate primers design was performed with a reported dioxygenase alpha subunit homologous gene. A length of 307 bp fragment of the partial dioxygenase gene sequences (GenBank accession: JF823991.1) was amplified by nested PCR. The clones amino acid sequence from strain AD-3 showed 95% identity to that of the partial naphthalene dioxygenase large-subunit from Marinobacter sp. NCE312 (AF295033). The results lay a foundation for the further study of molecular mechanism involved in the PAHs biodegradation by strain AD-3.

Anti-Toxoplasma gondii activity of GAS in vitro.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The sarcotesta of Ginkgo biloba is a Chinese herbal medicine used for treating toxoplasmosis, a serious disease requiring treatment with antibiotics that can have serious side effects. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the anti-Toxoplasmagondii activity of ginkgolic acids (GAs) isolated from the Ginkgo biloba sarcotesta in Toxoplasmagondii-infected human foreskin fibroblast (HFF) cells in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The safe concentration of GAs for HFF cells was determined by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) cell proliferation assay. The presence of Toxoplasmagondii was measured by [3H]-thymine deoxyriboside ([3H]-TdR) and [3H]-leucine ([3H]-Leu) incorporation, as well as Giemsa staining. The positive control was the commonly used and highly effective antibiotic azithromycin. RESULTS: Light microscopy revealed that most HFF cells were infected after 4h of exposure to Toxoplasmagondii. After 48 h of exposure to either GAs or azithromycin, Toxoplasmagondii DNA and protein synthesis were minimal, there were no visible parasites in HFF cells, and the HFF cells had no significant morphological changes. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that GAs have significant anti-Toxoplasma activity with low toxicity to HFF cells, suggesting that GAs could be an alternative treatment for toxoplasmosis.

Effect of particles on the recovery of cryptosporidium oocysts from source water samples of various turbidities.

Cryptosporidium parvum can be found in both source and drinking water and has been reported to cause serious waterborne outbreaks which threaten public health safety. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed method 1622 for detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts present in water. Method 1622 involves four key processing steps: filtration, immunomagnetic separation (IMS), fluorescent-antibody (FA) staining, and microscopic evaluation. The individual performance of each of these four steps was evaluated in this study. We found that the levels of recovery of C. parvum oocysts at the IMS-FA and FA staining stages were high, averaging more than 95%. In contrast, the level of recovery declined significantly, to 14.4%, when the filtration step was incorporated with tap water as a spiking medium. This observation suggested that a significant fraction of C. parvum oocysts was lost during the filtration step. When C. parvum oocysts were spiked into reclaimed water, tap water, microfiltration filtrate, and reservoir water, the highest mean level of recovery of (85.0% +/- 5.2% [mean +/- standard deviation]) was obtained for the relatively turbid reservoir water. Further studies indicated that it was the suspended particles present in the reservoir water that contributed to the enhanced C. parvum oocyst recovery. The levels of C. parvum oocyst recovery from spiked reservoir water with different turbidities indicated that particle size and concentration could affect oocyst recovery. Similar observations were also made when silica particles of different sizes and masses were added to seeded tap water. The optimal particle size was determined to be in the range from 5 to 40 micro m, and the corresponding optimal concentration of suspended particles was 1.42 g for 10 liters of tap water.