Cardiac myxomas as great imitators: A rare case series and review of the literature.

Myxoma is the most common type of primary cardiac tumors, accounting for 50%-80% of them. Cardiac myxomas are difficult to detect due to the lack of specific signs and symptoms and even benign tumors can cause serious consequences. Cardiac failure, atrio-ventricular valve obstruction or the embolization phenomenon can quietly occur in patients with cardiac myxomas. Here, we report three extraordinary cases, each of which vary in the first symptom. One case involved a 66-year-old man who had no underlying heart disease but suddenly developed chest tightness and got out of breath after exercising. One case was a 36-year-old young woman with a two-year history of low blood pressure but suddenly suffered a stroke. The third case was a 42-year-old middle-aged woman who accidentally discovered a cardiac myxoma during the diagnosis and treatment of acute pancreatitis. Echocardiography revealed huge masses floating in their atriums. Under general anesthesia, all the patients underwent open-heart surgery and hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections of the samples confirmed myxomas. Although most patients with cardiac myxomas lack of specific systemic symptoms, typical myxomas are relatively easy to diagnose. There are currently no effective medical therapeutic to inhibit tumor growth and surgical resection is the mainstay of treatment, which prevents a dreaded complication resulted from systemic and pulmonary embolisms.

Primary gastroduodenal tuberculosis complicated with acute pancreatitis: a rare case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major health problem worldwide. Even in highly prevalent countries, primary gastroduodenal tuberculosis is a rare manifestation of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. In recent years, as the incidence of tuberculosis has increased year by year, the occur of gastroduodenal tuberculosis has also increased. Endoscopy is an important tool for diagnosing gastroduodenal tuberculosis. The performance of gastroduodenal tuberculosis under endoscopy is often non-specific, which may imitate other benign or malignant gastroduodenal diseases. Diagnosis of gastroduodenal tuberculosis relies on a combination of endoscopy and guided biopsy. CASE PRESENTATION: Here, we report a rare and interesting case of gastroduodenal tuberculosis with acute pancreatitis. The case initially mimicked gastroduodenal ulcers in morphology and appeared in a middle-aged person with normal immunity but with prolonged fever and abdominal pain. The disease was diagnosed through endoscopy and guided biopsy, and it responded well to antituberculosis drugs. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians must remember that even in the absence of immunodeficiency, as in this case, tuberculosis can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract.

The expression and significance of feces cyclooxygensae-2 mRNA in colorectal cancer and colorectal adenomas.

BACKGROUND/AIM: This study aims to explore the expression and significance of feces cyclooxygensae-2 (COX-2) mRNA in colorectal cancer and colorectal adenomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The expression of feces COX-2 mRNA in colorectal cancer (n = 28), colorectal adenomas (n = 54), and normal control group (n = 11) were examined by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The positive rate of fecal occult blood test (FOBT) were detected in colorectal cancer (n = 30), colorectal adenomas (n = 56), and normal control group (n = 11); the sensitivity of the two methods was also compared. RESULTS: The positive rate of feces COX-2 mRNA in colorectal cancer was 82.1% (25/28), which was significantly higher than colorectal adenomas 59.3% (32/54), and normal tissues 18.2% (2/11), the difference being significant between the three groups (χ2= 13.842,P= 0.001). The positive rate of FOBT in colorectal cancer was 73.3% (10/30), which was significantly higher than colorectal adenomas 10.7% (6/56) and normal tissues 9.1% (1/11), the difference being significant between these three groups (χ2= 7.525,P= 0.023). There was no significant association between feces COX-2 expression and various clinical pathological features of colorectal cancer and colorectal adenomas (P > 0.05). The sensitivity of the RT-PCR method is higher than FOBT, however, the specificity of FOBT is slightly higher than RT-PCR. CONCLUSIONS: High expression of feces COX-2 mRNA in colorectal adenomas and colorectal cancer is a common event; it is an early event in the development of colorectal adenomas to colorectal cancer. Feces COX-2 mRNA has a high sensitivity for detect colorectal cancer; combination with FOBT will be the best alternative. Feces COX-2 can be potentially used in the early diagnosis and screening of colorectal cancer.

A recombinant rabies virus expressing a phosphoprotein-eGFP fusion is rescued and applied to the rapid virus neutralization antibody assay.

Rabies remains a worldwide concern, and dogs are a major vector for rabies virus (RABV) transmission. Vaccination is used in China to control the spread of rabies in dogs, a practice which necessitates effective, efficient, and high-throughput methods to confirm vaccination. The current rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT) method to measure virus-neutralizing antibody titers in the serum involves multiple steps, and more efficient methods are needed to match the increasing demand for this type of monitoring. In this study, based on the parental rRC-HL strain, a recombinant RABV rRV-eGFP expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) fused with RABV P protein was generated by a reverse genetic technique. The rRV-eGFP grew stably and successfully expressed P-eGFP fusion in Neuro-2A (NA) host cells. Furthermore, the P protein was shown to co-localize with eGFP in rRV-eGFP-infected NA cells. Since eGFP is easily detected in infected cells under a fluorescence microscope, rRV-eGFP could be used to establish a more rapid virus-neutralizing antibody titers assay based on RFFIT, designated as the RFFIT-eGFP method. From 69 canine serum samples, the RFFIT-eGFP method was shown to be as specific and as sensitive as the RFFIT method, suggesting that it might represent a faster tool than conventional RFFIT for measuring RABV virus-neutralizing antibody titers in canine sera without sacrificing accuracy.

Clinical and endoscopic-pathological characteristics of colorectal polyps: an analysis of 1,234 cases.

PURPOSE: To analyze the correlation of clinical symptom and endoscopic-pathological characteristics of colorectal polyps. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed on 1,234 continuous colorectal polyp patients. Their clinical, colonoscopic and pathological data were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: In 1,234 patients, 46.0% cases were asymptomatic, and 54.0% cases were symptomatic, and the female to male ratio was 2.23:1 and 1.74:1, respectively (P = 0.048). The mean polyp size in symptomatic group was significantly larger than asymptomatic group [7.6±5.1 mm (95% CI: 7.2, 8.0) vs. 6.3±3.7 mm (95% CI: 6.0, 6.6), P < 0.001]. Tubu-villous polyp and villous polyp occurred more frequently in symptomatic group, compared with asymptomatic group (P = 0.002). In symptomatic group, 37.4% cases complained of abdominal pain and 62.6% cases complained of bowel habit alteration. The polyp number in abdominal pain group was larger than bowel habit alteration group (P = 0.036). Three major symptoms of bowel habit alteration were diarrhea, constipation and hematochezia, with proportion of 54.2% (278/513), 27.7% (142/513) and 18.1% (93/513), respectively. The hematochezia group had larger polyp size than diarrhea group (P = 0.001) and consisted of more villous component than the constipation patients (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: Almost half of colorectal polyp patients do not complain of bowel symptoms, especially the male. Colorectal polyp patients have bowel habit alteration more commonly than abdominal pain. Half of patients with bowel habit alteration demonstrate diarrhea. The hematochezia patients are more susceptible to advanced adenomas than the diarrhea and constipation ones.

Characterization of the biological properties and complete genome sequence analysis of a cattle-derived rabies virus isolate from the Guangxi province of southern China.

In this study, a street rabies virus isolate, GXHXN, was obtained from the brain of one rabid cattle in Guangxi province of southern China. To characterize the biological properties of GXHXN, we first evaluated its pathogenicity using 4-week-old adult mice. GXHXN was highly pathogenic with a short incubation period and course of disease. Its LD50 of 10(-6.86)/mL is significantly higher than the LD50 of 10(-5.19)/mL of GXN119, a dog-derived rabies virus isolate. It also displayed a higher neurotropism index than the rRC-HL strain. However, the relative neurotropism index of GXHXN was slightly lower than that of GXN119. Analyzing antigenicity using anti-N and anti-G monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), all tested anti-N MAbs reacted similarly to GXHXN, CVS, and rRC-HL, but the reaction of anti-N MAbs to GXHXN was slightly different from GXN119. Moreover, 2/11 tested anti-G mAbs showed weaker reactivity to GXHXN than rRC-HL, whereas 4/11 showed stronger reactivity to GXHXN than CVS and GXN119, indicating that the structures of G might differ. In order to understand its genetic variation and evolution, the complete GXHXN genome sequence was determined and compared with the known 12 isolates from other mammals. A total of 42 nucleotide substitutions were found in the full-length genome, including 15 non-synonymous mutations. The G gene accounts for the highest nucleotide substitution rate of 0.70 % in ORF and an amino acid substitution rate of 0.95 %. Phylogenetic trees based on the complete genome sequence as well as the N and G gene sequences from 37 known rabies isolates from various mammals demonstrated that the GXHXN is closely related to the BJ2011E isolate from a horse in Beijing, the WH11 isolate from a donkey in Hubei, and isolates from dogs in the Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. These findings will be helpful in exploring the molecular mechanisms underlying interspecies transmission and the genetic variation of the rabies virus in different mammal species.

Prb1, a subtilisin-like protease, is required for virulence and phenotypical traits in the chestnut blight fungus.

Subtilisin-like proteases are widely distributed and reported to be required for virulence in pathogenic fungi. In chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica, prb1, encoding a putative subtilisin-like protease, was expressed and recombinant Prb1 protein was shown to have a protease activity in vitro. prb1-deleted mutants exhibited reduced total protease activity by 60%. The Δprb1 mutants showed a phenotype of reduced aerial hyphae, lower level of sporulation, and a significant reduction in virulence. Additionally, site-directed mutagenesis of Prb1 protein revealed that D195, H227, and S393 are critical for C. parasitica Prb1 function in vivo. Transcriptional analysis showed that deletion of prb1 also reduced the transcript accumulation levels for genes encoding key components of the heterotrimeric G-protein signaling pathway, including cpga1, cpgb1, cpgc1, and ste12. Furthermore, deletion of prb1 results in the accumulation of autophagic bodies in the fungus. Taken together, our results showed that prb1-encoded protease functions in the regulation of virulence, phenotypical traits, and autophagy in C. parasitica.

Expression and significance of cyclooxygenase-2 mRNA in benign and malignant ascites.

AIM: To investigate the mRNA expression of cyclooxygensae-2 (COX-2) in benign and malignant ascites, and to explore the difference in COX-2 mRNA expression among different diseases. METHODS: A total of 36 samples were collected from the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University and divided into two experimental groups: benign ascites (n = 21) and malignant ascites (n = 15). Benign ascites included cirrhotic ascites (n = 10) and tuberculous ascites (n = 5). Malignant ascites included oophoroma (n = 7), cancer of colon (n = 5), cancer of the liver (n = 6), gastric cancer (n = 2), and bladder carcinoma (n = 1). The mRNA expression of COX-2 in ascites was examined with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technology, and the positive rate of COX-2 mRNA was compared between different diseases. RESULTS: The positive rate of COX-2 mRNA in malignant ascites was 42.9% (9/21), which was significantly higher than in benign ascites, 6.7% (1/15), difference being significant between these two groups (χ(2) = 4.051, P = 0.044). The proportion of the positive rate in the malignant ascites was as follows: ovarian cancers 57.1% (4/7), colon cancer 40.0% (2/5), liver cancer 33.3% (2/6), gastric cancer 50.0% (1/2), and bladder cancer 0.00% (0/1). However, there was no significant difference in COX-2 mRNA expression among various tumors with malignant ascites (χ(2) = 1.614, P = 0.806). Among the benign ascites, COX-2 mRNA levels were different between the tuberculous ascites (0/5) and cirrhotic ascites (1/10), but there was no significant difference (P = 1.000). CONCLUSION: COX-2 mRNA, detected by RT-PCR, is useful in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant ascites, which also has potential value in the clinical diagnosis of tumors.

Effect of ionizing radiation on transcription of colorectal cancer MDR1 gene of HCT-8 cells.

OBJECTIVE: To discuss effect of ionizing radiation on transcription of colorectal cancer multidrug resistance (MDR) 1 gene of HCT-8 cells. METHODS: Total RNA was extracted by guanidine thiocyanate one-step method. Northern blot was applied to detect transcription level of MDR1 gene. The expression of P-gp protein was detected by flow cytometry. RESULTS: The expression of MDR1 of normal colorectal cancer HCT-8 cells was low. It was increased by 8.35 times under stimulus with 2 Gy. When treated with low doses in advance, high expressed MDR was decreased significantly under 0.05, 0.1 Gy, which was 69.00%, 62.89% in 2 Gy group and 5.77 times, 5.25 times in sham irradiation group. No obvious difference was detected between (0.2+2) Gy group and 2 Gy group. Compared with sham irradiation group, the percentage of P-gp positive cells after radiation of a high 2 Gy dose was increased significantly (P<0.01). When treated with high radiation dose following low radiation dose (0.05 Gy, 0.1 Gy) in advance, the percentage of P-gp positive cells were also increased significantly. The percentage of P-gp positive cells were increased obviously in 0.2 Gy and 2 Gy groups. Compared with simple high radiation 2 Gy group, the percentage of P-gp positive cells was decreased significantly (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Low radiation dose can reverse multidrug resistance of colorectal cancer cells caused by high radiation dose.

Complete genome sequence of a rabies virus isolate from cattle in guangxi, southern china.

A street rabies virus (RV) isolate, GXHXN, was obtained from brain tissue of rabid cattle in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China in 2009. GXHXN is the first isolate from cattle in China with its entire genome sequenced and is closely related to BJ2011E from horse in Beijing, WH11 from donkey in the Hubei Province, and isolates from dogs in the Guangxi and Fujian Provinces, with homologies of 97.6% to 99.6%. It is more distantly related to isolates from domestic cat, pig, Chinese ferret badger, and vaccine strains, with homologies of 83.1% to 88.0%.

Functional analysis of an S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase homolog of chestnut blight fungus.

S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), formed after donation of the methyl group of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) to a methyl acceptor, is reversibly hydrolyzed to adenosine (ADO) and homocysteine (HCY) by S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (SAHH). In chestnut blight fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica), sahh, a hypovirus-regulated gene that encodes a deduced SAHH protein was shown to have an SAHH enzymatic activity in vitro. Deletion of sahh resulted in the increased accumulation of intracellular SAH and SAM but decreased ADO, and a remarkably increased accumulation of transcripts that encode adenosine kinase, methionine adenosyltransferase, and an O-methyltransferase, key components of the methylation pathway. The Δsahh knockout mutants showed a phenotype of slower growth rate, fewer aerial hyphae, loss of orange pigment, absence of asexual fruiting bodies and conidia, and a significant reduction in virulence. Deletion of sahh significantly reduced the accumulation level of transcripts of the cyp1 that encodes cyclophilin A as well as genes of the heterotrimeric G-protein signaling pathways including cpga1, cpgb1, and cpgc1 and ste12, a target activated by the MAP kinase cascade. Taken together, we demonstrated that SAHH is required for virulence and multiple traits of phenotype in C. parasitica, by regulation of the expression of genes involved in key process of the cell.