Clinical analysis of kasabach-merritt syndrome in 17 neonates

BACKGROUND: Kasabach-Merritt syndrome (KMS) is characterized by giant hemangiomas and severe thrombocytopenia, which may result in life-threatening multi-organ hemorrhage. This study evaluated the clinical characteristics, treatments, and outcomes in neonates with KMS, in order to find out the optimal therapy. METHODS: The clinical data of 17 patients treated for KMS in the Department of Neonates, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, China from January 2007 to January 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The patients were 13 males and 4 females, aged 17 hours to 28 days at admission. Four patients had visceral hemangiomas and 13 had cutaneous hemangiomas. All had thrombocytopenia and coagulation disorders. Intravenous steroid therapy was initially effective in 6 patients (of which 3 relapsed) and ineffective in 11. The 11 patients with a poor response to steroids and the 3 who relapsed underwent arterial embolization therapy, which was effective in 9 patients (of which 1 relapsed), ineffective in 4, and discontinued before completion in 1. Subsequently, four patients in whom arterial embolization therapy was ineffective and one with relapse were treated with vincristine. This was effective in four patients, and the other died of disseminated intravascular coagulation. Steroid therapy was effective in 35.3% of patients, but the relapse rate was 50%. Arterial embolization was effective in 64.3% of patients and vincristine was effective in 80%. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with neonatal KMS, steroid therapy has a low rate of effectiveness and high rate of relapse. Arterial embolization has a good rate of effectiveness. Combined steroid and embolization therapy should be considered for first-line treatment of neonatal KMS. If this approach is ineffective, vincristine may be useful

Prevalence of insomnia symptoms and their associated factors in patients treated in outpatient clinics of four general hospitals in Guangzhou, China

Background: Data on the prevalence of insomnia symptoms in medical outpatient clinics in China are lacking. This study examined the prevalence of insomnia symptoms and their socio-demographic correlates in patients treated at medical outpatient clinics affiliated with four general hospitals in Guangzhou, a large metropolis in southern China. Method: A total of 4399 patients were consecutively invited to participate in the study. Data on insomnia and its socio-demographic correlates were collected with standardized questionnaires. Results: The prevalence of any type of insomnia symptoms was 22.1% (95% confidence interval (CI): 20.9–23.3%); the prevalence of difficulty initiating sleep was 14.3%, difficulty maintaining sleep was 16.2%, and early morning awakening was 12.4%. Only 17.5% of the patients suffering from insomnia received sleeping pills. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that male gender, education level, rural residence, and being unemployed or retired were negatively associated with insomnia symptoms, while lacking health insurance, older age and more severe depressive symptoms were positively associated with insomnia symptoms. Conclusions: Insomnia symptoms are common in patients attending medical outpatient clinics in Guangzhou. Increasing awareness of sleep hygiene measures, regular screening and psychosocial and pharmacological interventions for insomnia are needed in China. Trial registration: ChiCTR-INR-16008066. Registered 8 March 2016

Association of hematological parameters with metabolic syndrome in Beijing adult population: a longitudinal study

The purposes of the study were to estimate the incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and to systematically evaluate the relationship between hematological parameters and MetS in a 5-year follow-up of Beijing adult population. The longitudinal study included 3,180 adults, aged 20–65 years, who attended health check-ups in Beijing Tongren Hospital in 2007 and 2012. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to explore the associations between hematological parameters and MetS. The 5-year cumulative incidence of MetS in this sample was 10.82 % (14.22 % for males and 7.59 % for females). Among all the hematological parameters, white blood cell count (WBC) was positively associated with MetS for 20–35-year-old (male OR 1.482, 95 % CI 1.169–2.974; female OR 1.398, 95 % CI 1.145–3.011), and 36–50-year-old (male OR 2.012, 95 % CI 1.290–4.010; female OR 3.400, 95 % CI 1.818–4.528) male and female subjects. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was significantly associated with the incidence of MetS for males (20–35-year-old OR 2.080, 95 % CI 1.371–3.159; 36–50-year-old OR 2.421, 95 % CI 1.335–3.412; 51–65-year-old OR 4.267, 95 % CI 1.161–6.781). Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was positively associated with MetS for 51–65-year-old (male OR 3.078, 95 % CI 2.468–5.131; female OR 2.140, 95 %CI 1.524–4.359) for male and female subjects. WBC is positively associated with MetS for young adults, while LDL-C is positively associated with MetS for elderly people. ALT is positively associated with MetS for males. Our findings provide further evidence in support of using hematological markers for early detection of individuals at risk for MetS

Co-localization of two-color rAAV2-retro confirms the dispersion characteristics of efferent projections of mitral cells in mouse accessory olfactory bulb

The accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), located at the posterior dorsal aspect of the main olfactory bulb (MOB), is the first brain relay of the accessory olfactory system (AOS), which can parallelly detect and process volatile and nonvolatile social chemosignals and mediate different sexual and social behaviors with the main olfactory system (MOS). However, due to its anatomical location and absence of specific markers, there is a lack of research on the internal and external neural circuits of the AOB. This issue was addressed by single-color labeling and fluorescent double labeling using retrograde rAAVs injected into the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), anterior cortical amygdalar area (ACo), medial amygdaloid nucleus (MeA), and posteromedial cortical amygdaloid area (PMCo) in mice. We demonstrated the effectiveness of this AOB projection neuron labeling method and showed that the mitral cells of the AOB exhibited efferent projection dispersion characteristics similar to those of the MOB. Moreover, there were significant differences in the number of neurons projected to different brain regions, which indicated that each mitral cell in the AOB could project to a different number of neurons in different cortices. These results provide a circuitry basis to help understand the mechanism by which pheromone information is encoded and decoded in the AOS

Microstructure and structural modulation of lutetium dihydride LuH2 as seen via transmission electron microscopy

Structural investigations conducted using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on LuH2 synthesized under atmospheric pressure (AP-LuH2) and nitrogen-doped LuH2 synthesized under high pressure (HP-LuH2) have revealed numerous microstructural phenomena. Both materials show a clear superstructure modulation with wave vector, q^* = 1/4 (2-20), and this modulation can be well interpreted by the displacements of Lu atoms. Further investigations on the nitrogen-doped HP-LuH2 materials reveal the appearance of high-density antiphase boundaries, in particular, domain walls of a few atomic layer thickness without structural modulation can be observed, suggesting possible interface properties could be detected in this system. In-situ TEM observations of AP-LuH2 suggest that no evident structural phase transition occurs between 94 K and 673 K.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Biological behaviors and proteomics analysis of hybrid cell line EAhy926 and its parent cell line A549

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is well established that cancer cells can fuse with endothelial cells to form hybrid cells spontaneously, which facilitates cancer cells traversing the endothelial barrier to form metastases. However, up to now, little is known about the biologic characteristics of hybrid cells. Therefore, we investigate the malignant biologic behaviors and proteins expression of the hybrid cell line EAhy926 with its parent cell line A549.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cell counting and flow cytometry assay were carried out to assess cell proliferation. The number of cells attached to the extracellular matrix (Matrigel) was measured by MTT assay for the adhesion ability of cells. Transwell chambers were established for detecting the ability of cell migration and invasion. Tumor xenograft test was carried out to observe tumorigenesis of the cell lines. In addition, two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry were utilized to identify differentially expressed proteins between in Eahy926 cells and in A549 cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The doubling time of EAhy926 cell and A549 cell proliferation was 25.32 h and 27.29 h, respectively (P > 0.1). Comparing the phase distribution of cell cycle of EAhy926 cells with that of A549 cells, the percentage of cells in G0/G1 phase, in S phase and in G2/M phase was (63.7% ± 2.65%) VS (60.0% ± 3.17%), (15.4% ± 1.52%) VS (13.8% ± 1.32%), and (20.9% ± 3.40%) VS (26.3% ± 3.17%), respectively (P > 0.05). For the ability of cell adhesion of EAhy926 cells and A549 cells, the value of OD in Eahy926 cells was significantly higher than that in A549 cells (0.3236 ± 0.0514 VS 0.2434 ± 0.0390, P < 0.004). We also found that the migration ability of Eahy926 cells was stronger than that of A549 cells (28.00 ± 2.65 VS 18.00 ± 1.00, P < 0.01), and that the invasion ability of Eahy926 cells was significantly weak than that of A549 cells (15.33 ± 0.58 VS 26.67 ± 2.52, P < 0.01). In the xenograft tumor model, expansive masses of classic tumor were found in the A549 cells group, while subcutaneous inflammatory focuses were found in the EAhy926 cells group. Besides, twenty-eight proteins were identified differentially expressed between in EAhy926 cells and in A549 cells by proteomics technologies.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>As for the biological behaviors, the ability of cell proliferation in Eahy926 cells was similar to that in A549 cells, but the ability in adhesion and migration of Eahy926 cells was higher. In addition, Eahy926 cells had weaker ability in invasion and could not form tumor mass. Furthermore, there were many differently expressed proteins between hybrid cell line Eahy926 cells and A549 cells, which might partly account for some of the differences between their biological behaviors at the molecular level. These results may help to understand the processes of tumor angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis, and to search for screening method for more targets for tumor therapy in future.</p

Rapid Degradation of Phenanthrene by Using Sphingomonas sp. GY2B Immobilized in Calcium Alginate Gel Beads

The strain Sphingomonas sp. GY2B is a high efficient phenanthrene-degrading strain isolated from crude oil contaminated soils that displays a broad-spectrum degradation ability towards PAHs and related aromatic compounds. This paper reports embedding immobilization of strain GY2B in calcium alginate gel beads and the rapid degradation of phenanthrene by the embedded strains. Results showed that embedded immobilized strains had high degradation percentages both in mineral salts medium (MSM) and 80% artificial seawater (AS) media, and had higher phenanthrene degradation efficiency than the free strains. More than 90% phenanthrene (100 mg·L−1) was degraded within 36 h, and the phenanthrene degradation percentages were >99.8% after 72 h for immobilized strains. 80% AS had significant negative effect on the phenanthrene degradation rate (PDR) of strain GY2B during the linear-decreasing stage of incubation and preadsorption of cells onto rice straw could improve the PDR of embedded strain GY2B. The immobilization of strain GY2B possesses a good potential for application in the treatment of industrial wastewater containing phenanthrene and other related aromatic compounds

Theoretical Studies on Dehydrogenation Reactions in Mg-2(BH4)(2)(NH2)(2) Compounds

National Nature Science Foundation of China [21133004]Borohydrides have been recently hightlighted as prospective new materials due to their high gravimetric capacities for hydrogen storage. It is, therefore, important to understand the underlying dehydrogenation mechanisms for further development of these materials. We present a systematic theoretical investigation on the dehydrogenation mechanisms of the Mg-2(BH4)(2)(NH2)(2) compounds. We found that dehydrogenation takes place most likely via the intermolecular process, which is favorable both kinetically and thermodynamically in comparison with that of the intramolecular process. The dehydrogenation of Mg-2(BH4)(2)(NH2)(2) initially takes place via the direct combination of the hydridic H in BH4- and the protic H in NH2-, followed by the formation of Mg-H and subsequent ionic recombination of Mg-H delta-center dot center dot center dot H delta+-N