[Nutritional recovery after discharge in hospitalized children with malnutrition].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the nutritional recovery status of children with moderate or severe malnutrition during hospitalization after discharge. METHODS: The children with moderate or severe malnutrition were given nutrition support during hospitalization. They received a regular follow-up and nutrition guidance after discharge. The weight-for-age and height-for-age Z-scores reaching above -2 SD were considered the nutrition criterion for ending follow-up. RESULTS: Among the 298 children with moderate or severe malnutrition, 174 (58.4%) reached the criterion for ending follow-up, 100 (33.6%) were lost to follow-up, 18 (6.0%) died, and 6 (2.0%) did not reach the criterion for ending follow-up after 18 months of follow-up. The children with malnutrition in the department of surgery had a significantly higher proportion of children reaching the criterion for ending follow-up than those in the department of internal medicine (P<0.05). The children with severe malnutrition had a significantly higher loss to follow-up rate than those with moderate nutrition (P<0.05). The majority of children with emaciation reached the criterion for ending follow-up at month 3 after discharge, while those with growth retardation reached such the criterion at months 3-6 after discharge. Up to 1 year after discharge, more than 80% of the children with different types of malnutrition reached the nutrition criterion for ending follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the children with malnutrition who adhere to follow-up can reach the expected nutrition criterion within 1 year after discharge. The children with growth retardation have slower nutritional recovery than those with emaciation.

Thermal decomposition and kinetics studies on 1,4-dinitropiperazine (DNP).

DNP, a nitramine, has been studied with regard to the kinetics and mechanism of thermal decomposition, using thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermal analysis (DTA), infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The IR spectra of DNP have also been recorded and the kinetics of thermolysis has been followed by non-isothermal TG. The activation energy of the solid-state process was determined using Flynn-Wall-Ozawa method. The actual reaction mechanism obeyed nucleation and growth model, Avramie Erofeev function (n=1) with integral form Galpha=-ln(1-alpha) (alpha=0.10-0.65). Ea and A were determined to be 116.51 kJ/mol and 10(10.52) s(-1). The T/Jump FT-IR analysis showed that CH2O, NO2, and NO are produced in larger amounts than CO2 and HCN. The cleavage of the N-N and C-N bond appears to be the primary step in the thermolysis of DNP.

Isolation, structure elucidation, antioxidative and immunomodulatory properties of two novel dihydrocoumarins from Aloe vera.

Two new dihydrocoumarin derivatives, compounds 1 and 2, were isolated from Aloe vera. Their structures were determined by X-ray crystallographic diffraction analysis and extensive 1D, 2D NMR spectroscopic data. Both of them evidently showed antioxidant activity against superoxide and hydroxyl radicals. Only 1 obviously exhibited immunomodulatory activity in relation to increasing the phagocytic activity and stimulating the production of superoxide anions in the oxygen respiratory burst of rat peritoneal macrophages.

[Analysis of paralytic shellfish poison of bivalves in seafood market in Guangzhou].

OBJECTIVE: The investigations of the paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) from Huangsha seafood market of Guangzhou was performed to assess the risk of PSP in bivalves. METHODS: The concentration and profiles of PSP toxins in bivalves were determined by mouse bioassay of AOAC and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The risk assessment of PSP in bivalves was conducted with FAO and Chinese Administration Organization of Fish Culture and Seaport. RESULTS: The content of PSP detected was lower than the safe standard (4 MU/g meat) in all of the 84 samples, one of which had the highest toxicity with 1.84 MU/g muscle. These results suggested that the bivalves in seafood market was safe to feed. It was 9 samples' gland in 2 species that be detected to have PSP in the bivalves being researched, the muscles had few PSP. The concentration of PSP in one sample's gland exceeded the threshold of FAO (4 MU/g) with 14.52 MU/g meat, and the profiles of PSP in the gland were B1, GTX2/3, GTX1/4 and C according to HPLC. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that both of the concentration and detection rate of PSP of bivalves in seafood market in Guangzhou were low as a whole, but the content and discovery rate of PSP were far higher in glands than in the muscles, and the PSP content in one gland exceeded the threshold of Standard. The levels of PSP contamination in shellfish was characteristic of season. The toxins level in shellfish were the maximum in spring, but the frequency of toxins detected in shellfish was higher in summer and autumn, so the detection and risk assessment of PSP in bivalves from seafood market was essential in the future.

Determination of lomefloxacin by terbium sensitized chemiluminescence method.

A simple, rapid and sensitive chemiluminescence (CL) method was proposed for the determination of lomefloxacin (LFX). This method is based on the fact that the weak CL from the redox reaction of Ce(4+)-Na(2)SO(3) can be greatly enhanced by the complex of Tb(3+)-LFX. The CL intensity is directly proportional to the concentration of LFX in the range 2.0x10(-9) to 1.0x10(-5) mol L(-1), and the detection limit (S/N=3) is 1.1x10(-9) mol L(-1). This method has been applied to the detection of LFX in pharmaceutical preparation, urine and serum samples. Recoveries were in the range 95-105%. The CL mechanism of Ce(4+)-Na(2)SO(3)-Tb(3+)-LFX system was proposed to be an intermolecular energy transfer from excited SO(2)(*) to LFX and an intramolecular energy transfer from LFX to Tb(3+).