Prognostic analysis of different morphology of the necrotic-viable interface in osteonecrosis of the femoral head.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the collapse progression in different morphologies of the necrotic-viable interface in osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH). METHODS: A total of 168 patients (202 hips) with Association Research Circulation Osseous (ARCO) stage II ONFH were included. Ending with the collapse of the femoral head, all patients received conservative treatment but without surgical intervention and were followed for three to 91 months. Bilateral hip-joint radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were examined, and the largest layer of necrosis within the coronal section of MRI images was selected together with its anteroposterior radiograph to observe the morphology of the necrotic-viable interface. The morphology was divided into four types: I, type transverse; II, type "V"; III, type zigzag; IV, type closed. The collapse rate and the time to collapse in different morphologies were assessed. RESULTS: A total of 120 hips collapsed in two years or less, 61 were type-I, 51 were type-II, and 8 were type-III. Non-collapse occurred in all 17 hips with type-IV ONFH during long-term follow-up. In 202 hips with ARCO stage-II ONFH, the collapse rate in type-I ONFH was significantly higher than that of type-II and type-III ONFH (P < 0.01 for both). The time to collapse was markedly shortened. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of ONFH-induced collapse is influenced by the morphology of the necrotic-viable interface. Effective mechanical support for preventing the collapse of the femoral head is necessary when the morphology of the necrotic-viable interface is type transverse.

[Elderly chronic lymphocytic leukemia combined with invasive aspergillosis infection in one case].

OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed to investigate the morphological, immunophenotype, cytogenetic characteristics, clinical and therapy features in one elderly patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) combined with invasive aspergillose infection(IAI). METHODS: The morphological features of bone marrow cells from patient were observed by light microscope, the immunophenotype were detected by flow cytometry, the cytogenetic characteristics were assayed by conventional chromosomal analysis and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). RESULTS: at onset of disease, the patient was diagnosed as B-CLL, Rai stage is II. He was treated with a course of RF(fludarabine 50 mg×5, rituximab 600 mg×5) chemotherapy, and achived complete remission (CR) lasting for five years, then the patient was treated with multiple courses of chemotherapy and maintained at a steady state of disease. After the last chemotherapy, this patient developed a fever, his temperature fluctuated at 37.2-38.7°C, the lung CT showed the presence of massive shadow, repeated 1-3-ß-D-glucan test was positive,and he was considered as invasive aspergillosis infection, voriconazole was intravenously injected him for 2 months, his lung CT showed better efficacy. However, the leukemia continued progress, his hemogram was extremely low, invasive aspergillosis infection relapsed,voriconazole treatment was poor effect,ultimately this patient died of the rapid progress of leukemia and multiple organ invasive aspergillosis. Autopsy showed chronic lymphocytic leukemia with multiple metastases and multiple organ invasive aspergillosis. CONCLUSION: invasive aspergillosis is a serious complication for CLL patients,once occurs, the prognosis is poor,so early diagnosis and prophylactic antifungal therapy may reduce fungal infection complication.

Genomes of the rice pest brown planthopper and its endosymbionts reveal complex complementary contributions for host adaptation.

BACKGROUND: The brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, the most destructive pest of rice, is a typical monophagous herbivore that feeds exclusively on rice sap, which migrates over long distances. Outbreaks of it have re-occurred approximately every three years in Asia. It has also been used as a model system for ecological studies and for developing effective pest management. To better understand how a monophagous sap-sucking arthropod herbivore has adapted to its exclusive host selection and to provide insights to improve pest control, we analyzed the genomes of the brown planthopper and its two endosymbionts. RESULTS: We describe the 1.14 gigabase planthopper draft genome and the genomes of two microbial endosymbionts that permit the planthopper to forage exclusively on rice fields. Only 40.8% of the 27,571 identified Nilaparvata protein coding genes have detectable shared homology with the proteomes of the other 14 arthropods included in this study, reflecting large-scale gene losses including in evolutionarily conserved gene families and biochemical pathways. These unique genomic features are functionally associated with the animal's exclusive plant host selection. Genes missing from the insect in conserved biochemical pathways that are essential for its survival on the nutritionally imbalanced sap diet are present in the genomes of its microbial endosymbionts, which have evolved to complement the mutualistic nutritional needs of the host. CONCLUSIONS: Our study reveals a series of complex adaptations of the brown planthopper involving a variety of biological processes, that result in its highly destructive impact on the exclusive host rice. All these findings highlight potential directions for effective pest control of the planthopper.

[Analysis for clinicopathological features, therapy and prognosis of 30 elderly patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma].

The purpose of this study was to explore the clinicopathological features, therapy and prognostic factors of elderly patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The clinical data including general clinical characteristics, pathological features, chemotherapy selection and treatment response of 30 patients with NHL in our hospital from January 2003 to December 2012 were analyzed retrospectively. The survival was analyzed by using Kaplan-Meier methods, and the prognosis was evaluated by COX regression multivariate analysis model. The clinical parameters selected include age, Ann Arbor stage, international prognostic index (IPI), B symptom and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels. The results showed that all the patients suffered from underlying disease, and the cardiovascular disease (hypertension, coronary heart disease, arrhythmia) is the most common, and minority (8/30) combined with secondary tumor, the 63% (19/30) cases had B symptoms at diagnosis. only 2 cases were diagnosed as T-cell lymphoma; the 93% (28/30) cases combined with B-cell lymphoma, 57% (17/28) of them combined with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Ann-Arbor stage ≤ IIwas 37% (11/30);10(37%) patient's IPI score was ≤ 2, and 67% (20/30) was scored 3-5; 13(43%) patient's serum LDH level was abnormal. Modified R-CHOP chemotherapy was given individually on the basis of clinical features. The patients achieved complete remission, partial remission, stable disease, or progressive disease accounted for 14 (46.7%), 13 (43.3%), 1 (3.3%), and 2 (6.7%), respectively; the total reaction rate was 90% after 4 cycles of chemotherapy; the overall survival (OS) rate at 1 and 2 years was 73.3% and 43.3%, and progression-free survival (PFS)rate at 0.5 and 1 years was 62.2% and 54.9%; multivariate analysis by COX regression showed that B symptoms and Ann-Arbor stage were independent factors (P = 0.014, 0.039; RR = 6.678, 4.939, respectively) affecting the OS of elderly NHL, and IPI score affected PFS independently. It is concluded that elderly patients with NHL usually are of late stage at newly diagnosis and have suffered from underlaying diseases. Besides strengthening supportive treatment, modified R-CHOP chemotherapy should be given individually according to different prognosis. B symptoms and Ann-Arbor stage >II are indicators for poor prognosis of elderly NHL.

Transcriptome analysis of the brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens.

BACKGROUND: The brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) is one of the most serious insect pests of rice in Asia. However, little is known about the mechanisms responsible for the development, wing dimorphism and sex difference in this species. Genomic information for BPH is currently unavailable, and, therefore, transcriptome and expression profiling data for this species are needed as an important resource to better understand the biological mechanisms of BPH. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we performed de novo transcriptome assembly and gene expression analysis using short-read sequencing technology (Illumina) combined with a tag-based digital gene expression (DGE) system. The transcriptome analysis assembles the gene information for different developmental stages, sexes and wing forms of BPH. In addition, we constructed six DGE libraries: eggs, second instar nymphs, fifth instar nymphs, brachypterous female adults, macropterous female adults and macropterous male adults. Illumina sequencing revealed 85,526 unigenes, including 13,102 clusters and 72,424 singletons. Transcriptome sequences larger than 350 bp were subjected to Gene Orthology (GO) and KEGG Orthology (KO) annotations. To analyze the DGE profiling, we mainly compared the gene expression variations between eggs and second instar nymphs; second and fifth instar nymphs; fifth instar nymphs and three types of adults; brachypterous and macropterous female adults as well as macropterous female and male adults. Thousands of genes showed significantly different expression levels based on the various comparisons. And we randomly selected some genes to confirm their altered expression levels by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The obtained BPH transcriptome and DGE profiling data provide comprehensive gene expression information at the transcriptional level that could facilitate our understanding of the molecular mechanisms from various physiological aspects including development, wing dimorphism and sex difference in BPH.

Molecular characterization and inhibition analysis of the acetylcholinesterase gene from the silkworm maggot, Exorista sorbillans.

Several organophosphorus (OP) insecticides can selectively kill the silkworm maggot, Exorista sorbillans (Es) (Diptera: Tachinidae), while not obviously affecting the host (Bombyx mori) larvae, but the mechanism is not yet clear. In this study, the cDNA encoding an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) from the field Es was isolated. One point mutation (Gly353Ala) was identified. The Es-353G AChE and Es-353A AChE were expressed in baculovirus- insect cell system, respectively. The inhibition results showed that for eserine and Chlorpyrifos, Es-353A AChE was significantly less sensitive than Es-353G AChE. Meanwhile, comparison of the I(50) values of eserine, dichlorvos, Chlorpyrifos and omethoate of recombinant Es AChEs with its host (Bombyx mori) AChEs indicated that, both Es AChEs are more sensitive than B. mori AChEs. The results give an insight of the mechanism that some OP insecticides can selectively kills Es while without distinct effect on its host, B. mori.

Triazophos up-regulated gene expression in the female brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens.

The widespread use of insecticides has caused the resurgence of the brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, in Asia. In this study, we investigated an organo-phosphorous insecticide, triazophos, and its ability to induce gene expression variation in female N. lugens nymphs just before emergence. By using the suppression subtractive hybridization method, a triazophos-induced cDNA library was constructed. In total, 402 differentially expressed cDNA clones were obtained. Real-time qPCR analysis confirmed that triazophos up-regulated the expression of six candidate genes at the transcript level in nymphs on day 3 of the 5th instar. These genes encode N. lugens vitellogenin, bystin, multidrug resistance protein (MRP), purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase (P5CR) and carboxylesterase. Our results imply that the up-regulation of these genes may be involved in the induction of N. lugens female reproduction or resistance to insecticides.