[A survey of the current status of research on the diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C virus antibody-positive pregnant women].

Objective: To analyze the screening, diagnosis, epidemiology, pregnancy outcomes and treatment status in hepatitis C virus antibody-positive pregnant women, in order to provide clinical evidence for further improving prevention and control of maternal and infant safety. Methods: Data of 246 HCV antibody-positive pregnant women admitted to the Second Hospital of Nanjing from January 2014 to December 2019 were analyzed by epidemiological survey research method. Statistical analysis was performed according to different data using t-test, χ2 test, corrected χ2 test or Fisher's exact test. Results: 80 of 246 HCV antibody-positive women had confirmed infection before pregnancy. Of these, 85% were HCV RNA positive, and 16 became pregnant after antiviral therapy. Prenatal examination during pregnancy found that 166 cases were HCV RNA positive, and the HCV RNA positive rate was 81.93%. In the relationship between infection route and birth cohort in HCV antibody-positive pregnant women, there was a statistically significant differences in the proportions of transmission route among birth cohort (χ2=115.6, P＜0.001). With the delay of birth cohort, the proportion of infection through drug use was decreased (P＜0.001), while the proportion of acupuncture-associated infection (P=0.043) and infant hospitalization history were increased (P=0.005). Among pregnancy complications, HCV antibody-positive pregnant women in HCV RNA＜5.0 E+02 IU/ml and ≥5.0 E+02 IU/ml groups had intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (χ2=4.73, P=0.030) and gestational hypertension (χ2=8.65, P=0.003), and the difference in incidence was statistically significant. Postpartum treatment strategy data analysis showed that the treatment rate was highest in the first year of postpartum, and then showed an upward trend year by year, with a statistically significant difference (χ2=17.26,P =0.004). Conclusion: Anti-HCV screening rates are lower among pregnant and reproductive age women. HCV screening should be used as an important supplementary means to strengthen maternal safety and health education management during pregnancy. Active postpartum antiviral therapy, with particularly emphasis on management within the first year after delivery, can significantly improve the treatment rate among women of child bearing age.

Long-term safety and efficacy of telbivudine in infants born to mothers treated during the second or third trimesters of pregnancy.

Telbivudine, an FDA pregnancy category B drug, has been found to reduce hepatitis B virus (HBV) perinatal transmission with no safety concerns in infants aged up to 1 year. This study evaluated the long-term efficacy and safety of telbivudine in 214 infants born to 210 pregnant women with chronic hepatitis B infection who were treated with telbivudine during pregnancy (weeks 20-32 of gestation). The infants were followed for up to 5 years after birth. The efficacy endpoint was the rate of perinatal transmission, which was established by HBsAg and HBV DNA levels at 7 and 12 months. Safety endpoints included head circumference, weight, height, congenital abnormality and hospitalization rates. In addition, the Denver Developmental Screening Test was performed in 92 randomly selected infants. None of the 214 infants born to these women were infected with HBV, and all had effective serum hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) levels. Compared with Chinese standard values, there were few differences in the infants' mean head circumference, weight, and height values. No birth defects were diagnosed, and the congenital abnormality rate was 0.934%. Serious adverse events requiring hospitalization occurred in 20 infants (9.35%). The qualified Denver Developmental Screening Test rate in 92 infants was 97.82%, which was comparable to a rate of 92% in normal Chinese children. Thus, treatment with telbivudine during the second or third trimesters of pregnancy safely blocked perinatal transmission of HBV. Infants born to telbivudine-treated mothers showed normal growth and development during long-term follow-up of up to 5 years.

Efficacy and safety of telbivudine treatment: an open-label, prospective study in pregnant women for the prevention of perinatal transmission of hepatitis B virus infection.

We evaluated the efficacy and safety of telbivudine (LdT, 600 mg/day) vs control patients (no treatment) in decreasing vertical transmission of HBV, in HBeAg-positive mothers (HBVDNA >6log(10) copies/mL). HBeAg-positive pregnant women either in the second or third trimester were recruited in a prospective, case-control, open-label study, at the Second Affiliated Hospital of the Southeast University, China (February 2008-December 2010). Efficacy (month 7: HBVDNA (+), HBsAg (+) infants) in either the overall group or the treated group and control group was analysed using student's t-test. Infants were followed for at least 1 year. 362 women received LdT (second trimester n = 257; third trimester n = 105) and 92 were untreated. Before delivery, the mean maternal HBVDNA was 2.73, 2.47, 3.34 and 7.94 log10 copies/mL in the overall, second and third trimester treated and control groups, respectively (P < 0.001). At birth, 11.8% of babies overall (43/365), 13.5% (35/259) of those treated in the second trimester, 7.5% of those treated in the third trimester (8/106) and 20.7% (19/92) of untreated infants were HBsAg positive. At month 7, none of the LdT-treated infant had detectable HBVDNA, while eight infants from control mothers were HBsAg positive. Vertical transmission was 0% in LdT treated and 9.3% (8/86) in the control groups (P < 0.001). No difference in the vertical transmission rate was found in mothers treated in the second or third trimester. LdT treatment was safe for mothers and infants, and no congenital deformities were reported.

Existence of orbital order and its fluctuation in superconducting Ba(Fe(1-x)Co(x))2As2 single crystals revealed by x-ray absorption spectroscopy.

We performed temperature dependent x-ray linear dichroism (XLD) experiments on an iron pnictide system, Ba(Fe(1-x)Co(x))2As2 with x=0.00, 0.05, 0.08, and 0.10 to experimentally verify the existence of orbital ordering (OO). Substantial XLD was observed in polarization dependent x-ray absorption spectra of Fe L edges. By exploiting the difference in the temperature dependent behaviors, OO, and structure contributions to XLD could be clearly separated. The observed OO signal indicates different occupation numbers for d(yz) and d(zx) orbitals and supports the existence of ferro-OO. The results are also consistent with the theoretical prediction. Moreover, we find substantial OO signal well above the structural and magnetic transition temperatures, which suggests the existence of strong OO fluctuations up to high temperatures.

Non-amplification of an allele of the D8S1179 locus due to a point mutation.

During a population study of 128 Korean families (626 persons) with the AmpF/STR Profiler Plus PCR amplification system, we found an unusual homozygous genotype at the D8S1179 locus in 4 families. Therefore, a new pair of primers was designed for the D8S1179 locus from GenBank data (GenBank Accession No. G08710) to evaluate the cause. The newly designed primers amplified alleles that were not amplified with the AmpFlSTR Profiler Plus PCR amplification system. We sequenced alleles of the family members who had non-amplified alleles and we found a G-to-A transition at the position of the 147th base of the GenBank sequence.

Motherless case in paternity testing.

In paternity test using the DNA evidence, the analysis of the deficient case that the DNA profiles of mother or alleged father are not available is different from that of the trio case analyzed routinely. However, the motherless case that the genotypes of mother is not available has been requested and analyzed like the trio case. In this paper, we compared the motherless case and the trio case through the mean exclusion chance describing the probability of exclusion for a genetic marker system and the distribution of the probability of paternity calculated using the three current methods. We have also shown a case which can be falsely discriminated if it were requested in the analysis of the motherless case, and conclude that the analysis of the motherless case should be carefully conducted and the level for the discrimination should be different from that of the trio case.

A Korean population study of the nine STR loci FGA, VWA, D3S1358, D18S51, D21S11, D8S1179, D7S820, D13S317 and D5S818.

DNA typing was performed on 379 randomly selected unrelated Koreans using the nine short tandem repeat loci FGA, VWA, D3S1358, D18S51, D21S11, D8S1179, D7S820, D13S317 and D5S818 present in the AmpF/STR Profiler Plus PCR amplification kit. Allele frequencies, heterozygosity, power of discrimination, mean exclusion chance, and polymorphism information content of each locus were calculated by statistical analysis. All nine loci were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The combined discrimination index and the combined mean exclusion chance in Koreans was 2.31 x 10(-12) and 0.99983, respectively. By evaluation of 297 children from 128 families, 2 mutations were found at the FGA locus and 1 each at the D18S51 and D13S317 loci. This study demonstrates that this multiplex system is a useful and convenient tool for forensic identification and parentage testing in Korea.

All-trans-retinoic acid increases transforming growth factor-beta2 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 expression through a retinoic acid receptor-alpha-dependent signaling pathway.

Retinoids, including retinol and retinoic acid derivatives, maintain the normal growth and differentiation of human bronchial epithelial cells. The signaling pathways through which retinoids mediate these effects have not been defined. Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) and the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) gene family (beta1-3) were examined as potential components of the retinoid signaling pathway in normal human bronchial epithelial cells. All-trans-retinoic acid (t-RA) increased the levels of TGF-beta2 and IGFBP-3 mRNA and of secreted TGF-beta and IGFBP-3 proteins. An antagonist of retinoic acid receptor-alpha, LG100629, abrogated the increase in TGF-beta2 and IGFBP-3 mRNA levels induced by t-RA. t-RA increased IGFBP-3 mRNA levels transiently from 1 to 6 h, and subsequently a sustained increase began at 72 h, which coincided with the appearance of active TGF-beta in the media. Treatment with TGF-beta2 increased IGFBP-3 mRNA levels, but treatment with latency-associated peptide, which inactivates secreted TGF-beta, did not abrogate the effect of t-RA on IGFBP-3 expression. These findings provide evidence that t-RA increased TGF-beta2 and IGFBP-3 expression through an retinoic acid receptor-alpha-dependent pathway, and the increase in IGFBP-3 expression by t-RA did not require activation of the TGF-beta pathway by autocrine or paracrine mechanisms.

Retinoid refractoriness occurs during lung carcinogenesis despite functional retinoid receptors.

Retinoids have demonstrated activity in the prevention of second primary tumors in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). They also contribute to the normal growth and differentiation of human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells. Because retinoids mediate their actions through retinoid nuclear receptors (RARs and RXRs), aberrant signaling through retinoid receptors could contribute to lung carcinogenesis. Using a lung carcinogenesis model consisting of normal, premalignant, and malignant HBE cells, we examined all-trans retinoic acid (t-RA)-induced changes in cellular growth. These studies revealed that t-RA treatment inhibited the growth of normal HBE cells, but premalignant and malignant HBE cells were relatively resistant to t-RA. Coincident with the development of retinoid refractoriness, basal expression of the retinoic acid nuclear receptor beta (RAR-beta) increased. Analysis of receptor function by gel shift and transient transfection assays of normal, premalignant, and malignant HBE cells demonstrated that receptor-DNA binding and transcriptional activation properties were intact in the t-RA-refractory malignant HBE cells. To compare these findings to NSCLCs in patients, we investigated retinoid receptor expression in NSCLC biopsies. A subset of the tumors expressed RAR-beta, reflecting the RAR-beta expression observed in the malignant HBE cells in culture. These findings demonstrate that retinoid receptor function was intact in the t-RA-refractory malignant HBE cell line, suggesting that the defect in retinoid signaling in this lung carcinogenesis model is not intrinsic to the retinoid receptors.

[Quality of rhizoma Anemarrhenae grown for different periods of time and gathered in different seasons].

The experimental results have shown that except the stem and leaves all kinds of Rhizoma Anemarrhenae and all parts of the herb contain sarsasapogenin, but the contents are different. Furthermore, the root and peel of Rhizoma Anemarrhenae may be used as drug instead of Rhizoma Anemarrhenae.

[Pharmacokinetics study of intraperitoneal cisplatin in ovarian carcinoma].

Ten patients with surgically and pathologically confirmed ovarian cancer were treated by intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy of 20-25 mg/m2 of cisplatin. Total platinum concentrations in plasma, ascitic fluid and urine were determined by flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The peak of total platinum concentration in ascitic fluid was 18.75 times greater than that in plasma. The half-life of the elimination for total ascites platinum and total plasma platinum were 39.9 hours and 70.6 hours respectively. Peritoneal clearance of cisplatin was 6.1 ml/min whereas body clearance of cisplatin was 15.3 ml/min. 24 hours following administration, 13.53% of cisplatinum had been excreted through the urine. The results indicate that there is pharmacokinetic advantage to be gained by using IP chemotherapy of cisplatin. Because the half-life of cisplatin in plasma is longer, therefore, the interval of chemotherapy should be three weeks or more.

[Quality standards for qingwei huanglian pills].

In the paper systematic studies on quality standards for Qingwei Huanglian Pills are reported, along with the TLC identification of Gardenia jasminoides, Scutellaria baicalensis and Anemarrhena asphodeloides and the quantitative determination of berberine in Coptis chinensis and Phellodendron chinese by TLC densitometric method. To simplify the operation, the same solvent was used for both the identification and determination. The quantitative method is simple, sensitive, reproducible and accurate. The recovery of berberine is 99.48%. The coefficient of variation is 1.42%.