Lewy pathological study on α-synuclein in gastrointestinal tissues of prodromal Parkinson's disease.

The article "Lewy pathological study on α-synuclein in gastrointestinal tissues of prodromal Parkinson's disease" by Q.-B. Lu, Z.-F. Zhu, H.-P. Zhang, W.-F. Luo, published in Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2017; 21 (7): 1514-1521 has been withdrawn.

Lewy pathological study on α-synuclein in gastrointestinal tissues of prodromal Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVE: In the gastrointestinal neural system, the emergence of Lewy Body (LB) is usually earlier than the clinical diagnosis of Parkinson (PD) motor symptoms. Therefore, this study is aimed to explore whether the LB in the gastrointestinal tract of prodromal PD patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 98 paraffin embedded tissue specimens from 57 PD patients were collected in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University archives, as well as 98 tissue specimens of 90 non-PD patients undergone surgical resection. The pathological sections were stained by the immune-histochemistry method. The positive staining of aggregated a-Synuclein (a-a-syn) and phosphorylated a-Synuclein (p-a-syn) in gastrointestinal tract were counted to analyze the distribution of the expression of a/p-a-syn in the prodromal PD patients before diagnosis (0-5 years, 6-10 years, 11-20 years). RESULTS: According to results from the immunohistochemical staining of a/p-α-syn, 35 (52.23%) and 30 (44.78%) tissue blocks were positively stained respectively in total 67 tissue blocks provided from 39 prodromal PD patients. And there were 46 (46.94%) and 25 (25.51%) positive staining in 98 tissue blocks from the control group. In 31 tissue blocks collected from 18 PD patients, there were 19 (61.29%) and 15 (48.39%) tissue blocks with the a/p-a-syn positive staining. Compared with non-PD patients from the control group, the a-a-syn positive rate was not significantly increased in the pre- and post-diagnosis PD patients (p>0.05). However, p-a-syn of both groups increased significantly (p<0.05). Also, the positive expression rate of a/p-a-syn in the 6-10-year group was lower than that in the 0-5-year and 11-20-year, and the positive rate of the 0-5-year group was the highest (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: p-a-syn as the main component of Lewy body of nervous system in the gastrointestinal track may be used as a characteristic predictive marker of PD and the prevention of PD disease.

[Correlation analysis of serum calcium level and cognition in the patients with Parkinson's disease].

Objective: To investigate the relation between cognition and serum calcium in the patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), analyze the related factors of cognition, and evaluate the correlation of serum calcium with specific cognitive domains. Methods: A total of 77 patients with Parkinson's disease who was hospitalized in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, from Dce 2013 to May 2015 were subjected to the cognitive, motor and depression function assessment, and the fasting blood calcium samples were collected from the PD patients and 75 normal control subjects. According to cognitive function, PD patients were divided into dementia group and without dementia group. Then the serum calcium levels of three groups and the related factors of the cognitive were analyzed by multiple linear regression. Results: (1) The level of serum calcium in PD group with dementia (2.21±0.09) mmol/L was significantly lower than the normal control group (2.30±0.09)mmol/L (P<0.001), and there was no difference between the level of serum calcium in PD group without dementia (2.27±0.13 mmol/L) and normal control group (P=0.144). The level of serum calcium in PD group with dementia was lower than PD group without dementia, and there was marked statistical significance (P=0.023). (2) In PD patients, the cognitive scores correlated with serum calcium levels, education, H-Y stages and Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) Ⅲ scores (P<0.05), but didn't with gender, age, disease duration, depression levels, Body Mass Index (BMI) and total equivalent levodopa doses (P>0.05). (3) In PD patients, serum calcium level correlated with the visuospatial and executive capability, calculation ability, language ability (P1=0.004; P2=0.027; P3=0.021). Conclusions: (1) There is correlation between the serum calcium and the cognitive impairment. Lower serum calcium level predicts worse cognitive scores. (2) In PD patients, the change of the cognitive function is affected by their education, H-Y stages and UPDRSⅢ scores. (3) The serum calcium level of PD patients closely relates to the cognitive domain of the visuospatial and executive capability, calculation ability, and language ability.

Investigation into withdrawal of entecavir after 20 months in an HBsAb-positive patient who received HBsAg allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection of donors and recipients is not an absolute contraindication for allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). We studied a patient who received allo-HSCT from an HBsAg-positive donor. The patient was administered long-term immunosuppressive therapy and treated with the oral anti-viral medication, entecavir (ETV). During this treatment, there was no hepatitis B activity, which suggested that the treatment could effectively prevent the incidence of activated hepatitis. HBsAb was detected prior to stopping treatment with ETV, and hepatitis B activity occurred after stopping ETV. This suggested that the recipient was HBsAb-positive before transplantation, with the use of strong immunosuppressive agents, it is possible that HBV infection could occur after stopping ETV treatment because of reactivation of a latent HBV infection or receiving an allo-HSCT from HBsAg-positive donors. The recipient of an allo-HSCT from an HBsAg-positive donor should be given preventive anti-HBV medication when they receive long-term immunosuppressive therapy.

Imaging of dopamine transporters with technetium-99m TRODAT-1 and single photon emission computed tomography.

The authors wanted to evaluate the usefulness of 99Tcm-TRODAT-1 as an imaging agent for measuring changes in dopamine transporter concentrations in Parkinson disease (PD) and correlate the findings to the severity of the disease as measured by the Hoehn and Yahr scale (H/Y). Twenty-two healthy volunteers and 27 patients with PD of H/Y stage I-IV were evaluated. Acquisitions were performed 2 hours after injection of 99Tcm-TRODAT-1. Regions of interest were drawn over the striatum and the cerebellum, and the ratios of striatum-to-cerebellum (ST/CB) were calculated. Patients with PD showed a significant decrease in the striatal uptake of 99Tcm-TRODAT-1 compared to healthy volunteers, and the ST/CB ratios were closely related to the stage of PD. The present study demonstrates that it is possible to visualize and quantify changes in dopamine transporter in the striatum of patients with PD using 99Tcm-TRODAT-1 and SPECT with good correlation to H/Y stage and unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS) scale.

[Studies on initial infection sources and channels of black spot on Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F.H. Chen].

OBJECTIVE: To probe into the occurring and developing regularities of black spot on Panax notoginseng for disease control. METHODS: After artificial inoculation, observation and analysis on the planting plots were conducted regularly. RESULTS: The main infection sources include diseased seeds, seedlings, plants and soils. On the plot of new cropping, the initial infection sources are diseased seeds and seedlings while diseased plants and soils with pathogens are the main sources onplot of old cropping. CONCLUSION: Wiping out the infection centre and sources are the major effective means for control of black spot on P. notoginseng.