Diagnosis and treatment of 10 cases of idiopathic chondrolysis of the hip.

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics, X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging manifestations, and treatment efficacy of idiopathic chondrolysis of the hip. Methods: Ten patients with idiopathic chondrolysis of the hip treated at our hospital from September 2013 to April 2022 were collected, and their clinical features, X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging manifestations, and treatment outcomes were analyzed. Results: Their main clinical features included single hip pain, claudication gait, and pelvic tilt, without specific clinical symptoms and signs. Laboratory tests such as blood analysis, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, rheumatoid factor, autoimmune test, coagulation function, interferon release test for tuberculosis infection, and tuberculosis antibody test were normal. In the late stage, the imaging shows degeneration or ankylosis of the joint. The disease progresses rapidly, and joint degeneration can occur in adolescence without effective treatment. Herein, seven patients were treated with recombinant human tumor necrosis factor receptor-antibody type II fusion protein. Among them, four (according to Camarnat magnetic resonance imaging classification, three were Stage I and one was Stage II) showed improved symptoms and function, while two (Stage III) had progressed. One patient (Stage I) who received recombinant human tumor necrosis factor receptor had no significant relief of symptoms, for whom anterior capsular release surgery significantly improved the hip joint motion. Of the four patients who underwent hip release surgery, three showed progression. Conclusion: Idiopathic chondrolysis of the hip has no specific clinical and laboratory tests and a high misdiagnosis rate. Thus, early magnetic resonance imaging is a critical reference for diagnosis. We recommend that patients with magnetic resonance imaging Stage II or earlier be actively treated with recombinant human tumor necrosis factor receptor and start treatment as early as possible. In the third stage, the treatment effect is mediocre, and the narrowed hip space is difficult to change.

Novel virulence factor Cba induces antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of Streptococcus suis Serotype 9 infection in a mouse model.

Streptococcus suis (SS) is a zoonotic pathogen that affects the health of humans and the development of the pig industry. The SS Cba protein is a collagen adhesin, and a few of its homologs are related to the enhancement of bacterial adhesion. We compared the phenotypes of SS9-P10, SS9-P10 cba knockout strains and its complementary strains in vitro and in vivo and found that knocking out the cba gene did not affect the growth characteristics of the strain, but it significantly reduced the ability of SS to form biofilms, adhesion to host cells, phagocytic resistance to macrophages and attenuated virulence in a mouse infection model. These results indicated that Cba was a virulence related factor of SS9. In addition, Mice immunized with the Cba protein had higher mortality and more serious organ lesions after challenge, and the same was observed in passive immunization experiments. This phenomenon is similar to the antibody-dependent enhancement of infection by bacteria such as Acinetobacter baumannii and Streptococcus pneumoniae. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of antibody-dependent enhancement of SS, and these observations highlight the complexity of antibody-based therapy for SS infection.

Ternary regulation mechanism of Rhizoma drynariae total flavonoids on induced membrane formation and bone remodeling in Masquelet technique.

CONTEXT: Rhizoma drynariae total flavonoids (RDTF) are used to treat fractures. CD31hiEmcnhi vessels induced by PDGF-BB secreted by osteoclast precursors, together with osteoblasts and osteoclasts, constitute the ternary regulatory mechanism of bone tissue reconstruction. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine whether RDTF can promote bone tissue remodeling and induce membrane growth in the rat Masquelet model and to explore its molecular mechanism based on the ternary regulation theory. METHODS: Thirty-six SD rats were randomized to three groups: blank, induced membrane, and RDTF treatment (n = 12/group). The gross morphological characteristics of the new bone tissue were observed after 6 weeks. Sixty SD rats were also randomized to five groups: blank, induction membrane, low-dose RDTF, medium-dose RDTF, and high-dose RDTF (n = 12/group). After 4 weeks, immunohistochemistry and western blot were used to detect the expression of membrane tissue-related proteins. The mRNA expression of key factors of ternary regulation was analyzed by qRT-PCR. RESULTS: RDTF positively affected angiogenesis and bone tissue reconstruction in the bone defect area. RDTF could upregulate the expression of key factors (PDGF-BB, CD31, and endomucin), VEGF, and HMGB1 mRNA and proteins in the ternary regulation pathway. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Although the expected CD31hiEmcnhi vessels in the induction membrane were not observed, this study confirmed that RDTF could promote the secretion of angiogenic factors in the induced membrane. The specific mechanisms still need to be further studied.

Prevalence and Genetic Analysis of Porcine Circovirus 3 in China From 2019 to 2020.

Porcine circovirus type 3 (PCV3), a virus belonging to the Circoviridae family, is considered to be associated with respiratory and neurological signs, cardiac and multisystemic inflammation, reproductive failure, and porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome-like disease in pigs (Sus scrofa). In this study, epidemiological and serological investigations of PCV3 in clinically healthy pigs from different regions of China were performed. Overall, 42.87% (1,101/2,568) of pigs were positive for PCV3 Cap antibody via indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, with a higher prevalence of PCV3 in multiparous sows (62.22%, 881/1,416) and fattening pigs (28.96%, 159/549) than in suckling piglets (8.96%, 32/357) and nursery pigs (11.79%, 29/246). Of the 2,568 samples, 255 were further tested for PCV3 DNA using real-time polymerase chain reaction, and 63.14% of these were positive, with nearly half having <10 virus copies. The PCV3 DNA and antibody positivity rates were high in the pig serum samples; however, the virus titers and antibody levels were both low, indicating that the humoral immune response of PCV3-infected pigs was weak or lagging, and persistent or repeated infections could occur. Additionally, the complete genomes of 23 PCV3 strains were sequenced and analyzed, which showed nucleotide identities of 98.5~100.0%, 98.6~100.0%, and 99.2~100.0% in the complete genome, open reading frame (ORF)2, and ORF1 sequences, respectively, and amino acid identities of 96.7~100.0% and 99.3~100.0% in the capsid and replicase proteins, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on ORF2 nucleotide sequences indicated that the PCV3 strains obtained in the present study could be classified into three sub-clades, with most strains clustered into clade 3c, indicating that PCV3c is the dominant subtype in the regions of China investigated. In general, the present study revealed a high prevalence and high genetic divergence of PCV3 among Chinese pig herds, and indicated that the potential effect of PCV3 on the pig industry may be a concern.

A novel combined vaccine against classical swine fever and porcine epidemic diarrhea viruses elicits a significant Th2-favored humoral response in mice.

Many Chinese breeding pigs are repeatedly vaccinated against classical swine fever virus (CSFV) and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), which cause fatal, highly contagious diseases. To reduce their high frequency vaccination-induced immune stress, we constructed a combined vaccine based on the E2 protein of CSFV and the S1 spike protein subunit of PEDV (named E2-S1). In mice, the E2-S1 vaccine elicited higher neutralizing antibody titers and IgG1/IgG2a ratios against CSFV and PEDV than those induced by individual E2 or S1 vaccines. Moreover, it elicited high IL-4 expression, but no IFN-γ expression. The results suggest that good compatibility exists between E2 and S1 antigens, and the E2-S1 vaccine can elicit a strong Th2-type cell-mediated humoral immune response. The E2-S1 recombinant fusion protein provides a novel vaccine candidate against both CSFV and PEDV, laying the foundation for future combination vaccines against swine diseases.

Gastric schwannoma treated by endoscopic full-thickness resection and endoscopic purse-string suture: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Schwannomas, also known as neurinomas, are tumors that derive from Schwann cells. Gastrointestinal schwannomas are extremely rare, but the stomach is the most common site. Gastric schwannomas are usually asymptomatic. Endoscopy and imaging modalities might offer useful preliminary diagnostic information. However, to diagnose schwannoma, the immunohistochemical positivity for S-100 protein is essential, whereas CD117, CD34, SMA, desmin, and DOG-1 are negative. CASE SUMMARY: A 45-year-old female was found to have a gastric mass during a medical examination, which was diagnosed as a gastric schwannoma. We performed endoscopic full-thickness resection and endoscopic purse-string suture. Pathology and immunohistochemical staining confirmed the diagnosis of gastric schwannoma through the positivity of S-100 protein. Furthermore, to exclude the misdiagnosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumor, we performed a mutational detection of the c-Kit and PDGFRA genes. Postoperative follow-up revealed that the patient recovered well. CONCLUSION: Immunohistochemical staining is essential for the diagnosis of schwannoma. Endoscopic full-thickness resection is an effective treatment method for gastric schwannoma.

A fatal diarrhoea outbreak in farm-raised Deinagkistrodon acutus in China is newly linked to potentially zoonotic Aeromonas hydrophila.

Deinagkistrodon acutus is a venomous pit viper commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine; farming these snakes has become a major industry. In 2017, an outbreak of fatal diarrhoea among farm-raised D. acutus in Hunan Province caused the deaths of 5,600 snakes within 3 weeks. We isolated a brand-new sequence type of Aeromonas hydrophila (ST516) from lesions and confirmed that this bacterium was the causal agent of the outbreak. Snakes infected with the bacterium in the laboratory showed similar clinical symptoms to those of snakes in the original outbreak. We also tested bacterial virulence in Kunming mice to examine the likelihood of zoonosis. Isolates were pathogenic to mice, causing diarrhoea within 4 hr post-challenge, which indicates that the bacterium can potentially infect mammals. Environmental analysis showed that polluted spring water likely caused the diarrhoea in snakes. This study is the first to report on a large-scale outbreak of fatal diarrhoea in farm-raised snakes, originating in a pathogen that can infect mammals. These results should raise awareness regarding potential anthropozoonosis among poikilotherms, mammals, and humans; appropriate prevention or control methods should be developed.

The XRE Family Transcriptional Regulator SrtR in Streptococcus suis Is Involved in Oxidant Tolerance and Virulence.

Streptococcus suis is a zoonotic pathogen that harbors anti-oxidative stress genes, which have been reported to be associated with virulence. Serial passage has been widely used to obtain phenotypic variant strains to investigate the functions of important genes. In the present study, S. suis serotype 9 strain DN13 was serially passaged in mice 30 times. The virulence of a single colony from passage 10 (SS9-P10) was found to increase by at least 140-fold as indicated by LD50 values, and the increased virulence was stable for single colonies from passage 20 (SS0-P20) and 30 (SS0-P30). Compared to the parental strain, the mouse-adapted strains were more tolerant to oxidative and high temperature stress. Genome-wide analysis of nucleotide variations found that reverse mutations occurred in seven genes, as indicated by BLAST analysis. Three of the reverse mutation genes or their homologs in other bacteria were reported to be virulence-associated, including ideSsuis in S. suis, a homolog of malR of Streptococcus pneumoniae, and a homolog of the prepilin peptidase-encoding gene in Legionella pneumophila. However, these genes were not involved in the stress response. Another gene, srtR (stress response transcriptional regulator), encoding an XRE family transcriptional regulator, which had an internal stop in the parental strain, was functionally restored in the adapted strains. Further analysis of DN13 and SS9-P10-background srtR-knock-out and complementing strains supported the contribution of this gene to stress tolerance in vitro and virulence in mice. srtR and its homologs are widely distributed in Gram-positive bacteria including several important human pathogens such as Enterococcus faecium and Clostridioides difficile, indicating similar functions in these bacteria. Taken together, our study identified the first member of the XRE family of transcriptional regulators that is involved in stress tolerance and virulence. It also provides insight into the mechanism of enhanced virulence after serial passage in experimental animals.

Molecular characterization of Porcine sapelovirus in Hunan, China.

Porcine sapeloviruses (PSVs) are widely distributed in pig populations; however, little information on their evolutionary history and the mechanisms driving their divergence is available. Therefore, in the present study, 241 fecal samples and 91 intestinal contents collected from pigs at 26 farms in Hunan, China, were tested for the presence of PSVs. The overall PSV positivity rate was 46.39 %, with a particularly high infection rate detected in nursery and fattening pigs. A total of 29 PSV strains (PSV-HuNs) were isolated, with these showing high genetic diversity based on phylogenetic and pairwise distance analyses of the capsid-protein gene sequences. Incongruence between phylognetic trees of the capsid-protein and 3CD regions indicated frequent recombination within the PSV-HuNs, and a putative recombinant hotspot near the 3' end of the P1 region was identified. Our results suggested that recombination played an important role in driving PSV genetic diversity and evolution.

Isolation of nontuberculous mycobacteria from soil using Middlebrook 7H10 agar with increased malachite green concentration.

Environmental exposure is considered to be responsible for nontuberculous mycobacterial infections in humans. To facilitate the isolation of mycobacteria from soil, Middlebrook 7H10 agar was optimized as an enhanced selective medium by increasing the concentration of malachite green. A series of modified Middlebrook 7H10 agar media with malachite green concentrations ranging from 2.5 to 2500 mg/L was evaluated using 20 soil samples decontaminated with 3% sodium dodecyl sulfate plus 2% NaOH for 30 min. Among these modified Middlebrook 7H10 media, the medium with malachite green at a concentration of 250 mg/L, i.e., at the same concentration as in Löwenstein-Jensen medium, was the most effective in terms of the number of plates with mycobacterial growth. This medium was further evaluated with 116 soil samples. The results showed that 87.1% (101/116) of the samples produced mycobacterial growth, and 15 samples (12.9%) produced no mycobacterial growth. Of the plates inoculated with the soil samples, each in duplicate, 5.2% (12/232) showed late contamination. In total, 19 mycobacterial species were isolated, including seven (36.8%) rapidly growing mycobacteria and 12 (63.2%) slowly growing mycobacteria. Our results demonstrate that the modified Middlebrook 7H10 agar with 250 mg/L malachite green is useful for the primary isolation of nontuberculous mycobacteria from soil.

Identification of Bacterial Surface Antigens by Screening Peptide Phage Libraries Using Whole Bacteria Cell-Purified Antisera.

Bacterial surface proteins can be good vaccine candidates. In the present study, we used polyclonal antibodies purified with intact Erysipelothrix rhusiopthiae to screen phage-displayed random dodecapeptide and loop-constrained heptapeptide libraries, which led to the identification of mimotopes. Homology search of the mimotope sequences against E. rhusiopthiae-encoded ORF sequences revealed 14 new antigens that may localize on the surface of E. rhusiopthiae. When these putative surface proteins were used to immunize mice, 9/11 antigens induced protective immunity. Thus, we have demonstrated that a combination of using the whole bacterial cells to purify antibodies and using the phage-displayed peptide libraries to determine the antigen specificities of the antibodies can lead to the discovery of novel bacterial surface antigens. This can be a general approach for identifying surface antigens for other bacterial species.

Small-sized circular genomes similar to genome of porcine circovirus 2.

Circular genomes smaller than and similar to the genome of porcine circovirus 2 were obtained from pig tissues along with the full-length genome of porcine circovirus 2. The 922-, 839-, and 617-nucleotide-long genomes exhibit high homology to the rep gene plus the origin of replication sequence of porcine circovirus 2.

Engineering integrable nonautonomous nonlinear Schrödinger equations.

We investigate Painlevé integrability of a generalized nonautonomous one-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation with time- and space-dependent dispersion, nonlinearity, and external potentials. Through the Painlevé analysis some explicit requirements on the dispersion, nonlinearity, dissipation/gain, and the external potential as well as the constraint conditions are identified. It provides an explicit way to engineer integrable nonautonomous NLS equations at least in the sense of Painlevé integrability. Furthermore analytical solutions of this class of integrable nonautonomous NLS equations can be obtained explicitly from the solutions of the standard NLS equation by a general transformation. The result provides a significant way to control coherently the soliton dynamics in the corresponding nonlinear systems, as that in Bose-Einstein condensate experiments. We analyze explicitly the soliton dynamics under the nonlinearity management and the external potentials and discuss its application in the matter-wave dynamics. Some comparisons with the previous works have also been discussed.

Promoting lumbar spinal fusion by adenovirus-mediated bone morphogenetic protein-4 gene therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether an adenoviral construct containing bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4) gene can be used for lumbar spinal fusion. METHODS: Twelve New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into two groups, 8 in the experimental group and 4 in the control group. Recombinant, replication-defective type 5 adenovirus with the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter and BMP-4 gene (Ad-BMP-4) was used. Another adenovirus constructed with the CMV promoter and beta-galactosidase gene (Ad-beta-gal) was used as control. Using collagen sponge as a carrier, Ad-BMP-4 (2.9 multiply 10(8) pfu/ml ) was directly implanted on the surface of L(5)-L(6) lamina in the experimental group, while Ad-beta-gal was implanted simultaneously in the control group. X-ray was obtained at 3, 6, and 12 weeks postoperatively to observe new bone formation. When new bone formation was identified, CT scans and three-dimensional reconstruction were obtained. After that, the animals were killed and underwent histological inspection. RESULTS: In 12 weeks after operation, new bone formation and fusion were observed on CT scans in the experimental group, without the evidence of ectopic calcification in the canal. Negative results were found in the control group. Histological analysis demonstrated endochondral bone formation at the operative site and fusion at early stage was testified. CONCLUSIONS: In vivo gene therapy using Ad-BMP-4 for lumbar posterolateral spinal fusion is practicable and effective.