New serological assay for detection of putative Helicobacter pylori virulence factors

We evaluated a new immunoblot assay (Helicoblot 2.1) for Helicobacter pylori infection and CagA and VacA status by using serum samples from 222 patients. The test accurately detected H. pylori infection and VacA status, but improvements in the interpretation criteria are required before it can be recommended for determination of CagA status.     

甲壳素短纤维增强聚己内酯复合材料的制备及生物学评价

用共混法制备甲壳察短纤维增强聚己内酯复合材料，并对纯聚己内酯和甲壳察短纤维增强聚己内酯复合材料进行体外细胞毒性和生物相容性评价，为临床应用提供有价值的实验依据。对该两种材料进行体外细胞毒性试验、急性全身毒性试验、溶血试验、热源试验和过敏试验。结果显示受试材料最终细胞毒性级为0级，对细胞生长和增殖无明显抑制作用，材料中不存在潜在致敏性物质，浸提液无溶血反应和急性全身毒性反应，无热源反应，表明该复合材料具有良好的细胞和组织相容性，其作为胸壁缺损修补材料应用于临床具有可行性和安全性。     

基于实时三维超声图像的二尖瓣环重建及运动分析

二尖瓣环的非平面特性对二尖瓣返流的超声诊断和二尖瓣环成形术的合理设计具有重要意义.基于心脏的实时三维超声图像,我们研究了一种对二尖瓣环三维重建及运动分析的方法.首先通过人机交互方式提取出二尖瓣环的特征点,并根据位置关系对特征点排序,然后利用非均匀有理B样条曲线建立二尖瓣环三维形态模型,并编程实现二尖瓣环的动态显示和运动分析.通过对20组病例分析,初步证明此方法所建模型较准确反映患者的二尖瓣环的运动,能满足二尖瓣环三维可视化和分析研究的需要.     

噻氯匹定对脑梗塞患者血小板聚集功能和血液流变学的影响

以50例脑梗塞为观察组，45例健康人为对照组，观察噻氯匹定对脑梗塞血小板聚集功能和血液流变学的影响。（1）治疗前，观察组血小板聚集率（PAR）非常显著地高于对照组（P＜0.01），（2）治疗后，观察组PAR非常显著地低干治疗前（P＜0.01），与对照组比较已无显著性差异（P＞0．05），（3）观察组各亚组治疗后PAR大多非常显著地低于治疗前（P＜0．01）。（4）观察组治疗前后血液流变学指标无显著性变化（P＞0．05），（5）神经功能缺损评分：治疗前15．8±0．98；治疗后8．2±5.4，差异有非常显著意义（P＜0．01）。     

L-arginine-dependent killing of intracellular Ehrlichia risticii by macrophages treated with gamma interferon.

Thioglycolate-induced murine peritoneal macrophages infected with Ehrlichia risticii and treated in vitro with gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) developed antiehrlichial activity that eliminated the intracellular bacteria. This antiehrlichial activity was suppressed by NG-monomethyl-L-arginine, a competitive inhibitor of nitric oxide synthesis from L-arginine, but not by L-tryptophan. Increased levels of nitrite, an oxidative product of nitric oxide, were measured in cultures of infected macrophages treated with IFN-gamma. Sodium nitroprusside, which spontaneously releases nitric oxide, also showed the antiehrlichial activity. The antiehrlichial activity by reactive nitrogen intermediates was not mediated by elevation of the cellular concentration of cyclic GMP since the addition of 8-bromo-cyclic GMP itself had no influence on ehrlichial infection of macrophages. Addition of the intracellular iron chelator deferoxamine also inhibited E. risticii infection in vitro. These results suggest that intracellular E. risticii survival is iron dependent and that production of reactive nitrogen intermediates triggers iron loss from critical target enzymes of E. risticii, leading to lethal metabolic inhibition. However, addition of excess FeSO4, ferric citrate, or iron-saturated transferrin did not counteract the antiehrlichial effect induced by IFN-gamma.     

Stability of monoclonal antibody-defined epitopes.

Epitope instability can limit the applications of monoclonal antibody (mAb) technology in laboratory and clinical research. We exposed a group of representative antigens on human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells to physiochemical insults to study epitope stability as measured by mAb immunoreactivity. Each epitope was found to have a unique pattern of instability which serves to biophysically characterize the antigen and defines the conditions to which the antigen can be exposed during laboratory and clinical investigations. Individual antigens were found to be unstable within a surprisingly well defined window of solvent polarities while being stable on either side of that window. Several antigens were observed to be unstable when exposed to transient changes in pH. When a critical temperature between 42 degrees C and 65 degrees C was achieved, epitopes which were thermosensitive underwent a sudden loss in immunoreactivity. This critical temperature was found to be pH dependent. The effects of polarity, pH, and temperature on epitope stability are consistent with changes in protein structural conformation. In addition, we found that certain fixatives cause a time and concentration dependent loss of epitope immunoreactivity. This study provides a rapid and easy determination of monoclonal antibody-defined epitope stability; the results of which serve to guide further studies on the antigen and to characterize the antigen on the basis of its unique physiochemical stability.     

Resistance to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis induced by neonatal tolerization to myelin basic protein: clonal elimination vs. regulation of autoaggressive lymphocytes

The target autoantigen of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), myelin basic protein (MBP), appears late in ontogeny. In the rat MBP is expressed first on days 2-3 post partum, at a development stage, when self tolerance to most other autoantigens has already developed. To shed light on the cellular mechanisms that lead to immunological self tolerance to MBP, we treated neonatal rats with high doses of MBP before ontogenetic appearance of this autoantigen. We found that high doses are required to confer MBP-specific tolerance lasting until the adult life. Neonatally tolerized, adult rats are completely resistant to induction of EAE by injection of MBP in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Upon MBP CFA challenge, these animals develop a limited humoral response to MBP, but are completely unreactive to MBP on the T cell level. The function of antigen-presenting cells is unchanged by neonatal tolerization, and there is no evidence for the induction of suppressive mechanisms. Transfers of large numbers of tolerized lymphocytes to normal hosts fails to interfere with EAE inducibility. Moreover, neonatally tolerized lymphocytes do not reduce MBP reactivity of primed lymph node cells or T line cells in vitro. Finally, neonatally tolerized rats are susceptible to EAE transferred by activated primed lymphocytes or by in vitro-activated MBP-specific T line cells. The apparent deletion of MBP-specific T lymphocytes in neonatally tolerized rats is in striking contrast to the physiological self tolerance to MBP, which is characterized by the presence of MBP-specific clones in the normal immune repertoire.     

Rapid detection (4 h) of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by a bioluminescence method.

A 4-h bioluminescence method for methicillin susceptibility determination was compared with reference methods. Of the Staphylococcus aureus strains tested, 80 were methicillin resistant, 180 were methicillin susceptible, and 10 were borderline susceptible. There was 100% correlation between bioluminescence and reference methods for methicillin-susceptible and methicillin-resistant strains. All borderline-susceptible strains were identified as methicillin resistant by bioluminescence.     

心肌炎患者高频心电图QRS波群的功率谱分析

本文选取６９名心肌炎患者，９４名正常人做为对照。依其年龄不同，共分６组：幼儿心肌炎组，正常幼儿组，学龄心肌炎组，正常学龄组，成人心肌炎组，正常成人组。分别对这６组的Ⅱ导、ａＶＦ导、Ｖ２导、Ｖ５导ＱＲＳ波群０－１０００Ｈｚ、８０－３００Ｈｚ、１００－１０００Ｈｚ３个频段的功率谱（用绝对能量表示）进行了分析。结果提示，不同年龄的心肌炎患者，其心电信号高频频段的能量变化规律不一致。