Impact of modified ultrafiltration on morbidity after pediatric cardiac surgery

Cardiopulmonary bypass is a double-edged sword. Without it, corrective cardiac surgery would not be possible in the majority of children with congenital heart disease. However, much of the perioperative morbidity that occurs after cardiac surgery can be attributed to a large extent to pathophysiologic processes engendered by extracorporeal circulation. One of the challenges that has confronted pediatric cardiac surgeons has been to minimize the consequences of cardiopulmonary bypass. Ultrafiltration is a strategy that has been used for many years in an effort to attenuate the effects of hemodilution that occur when small children undergo surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Over the past several years, a modified technique of ultrafiltration, commonly known as modified ultrafiltration, has been used with increasing enthusiasm. Multiple studies have been undertaken to assess the effects of modified ultrafiltration on organ function and postoperative morbidity following repair of congenital heart defects. This review attempts to evaluate current available scientific evidence on the impact of modified ultrafiltration on organ function and morbidity after pediatric cardiac surgery.     

A novel magnetic bead bioassay platform using a microchip-based sensor for infectious disease diagnosis

New technologies are greatly needed to improve laboratory tests that can be used in point-of-care clinical settings. Here, a biosensor was used to detect micron-scale paramagnetic beads in order to replace the conventional enzymatic label used in ELISAs. This novel biosensor was fabricated through standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) manufacturing and was used to quantify magnetic beads bound to the sensor surface by immunological recognition, analogous to ELISA. CMOS technology can integrate multiple laboratory functions into the sensor chip, potentially enabling inexpensive, compact and sophisticated diagnostic systems for a number of diseases. We present results for two immunological assays: antigen capture of purified mouse IgG and detection of human anti-dengue virus IgG in clinical serum samples. The sensitivity of detecting purified protein with magnetic beads was comparable to ELISA. We found a high correlation between the ELISA optical density and the biosensor output in the clinical assay. We also demonstrate the use of a controlled magnetic field to remove non-specifically bound magnetic beads from the sensor surface, effectively washing the sensor surface. This novel sensor can be mass-produced at low cost and can detect magnetic beads bound to the surface through specific antibody-antigen interactions, making it a potential platform for new simplified and rapid point-of-care diagnostic tests.     

新疆维吾尔族人群细胞色素P450酶同工酶2C19基因多态性：与汉族人群的比较（英文）

背景：研究已证实细胞色素P450酶同工酶2C19,其代谢表型呈现遗传多态性,表现为强、弱代谢型,而且存在显著的种族间和个体间差异。目的：观察新疆维吾尔族人群胞色素P450酶同工酶2C19基因多态性分布情况。方法：纳入144例新疆维吾尔族和156例汉族健康志愿者,采用多聚酶链反应-限制性片段长度多态性法进行细胞色素P450酶同工酶2C19基因多态性分析,进一步观察维吾尔族和汉族人基因表型和基因频率的差异。结果与结论：新疆维吾尔族人群强代谢型基因wt/wt,wt/m1,wt/m1＋wt/m2的总频率明显高于汉族（P〈0.05）,而弱代谢型基因m1/m1的总频率明显低于汉族（P〈0.05）。维吾尔族和汉族的wt,m1,m2的等位基因频率差异均有显著性意义（P〈0.05）,其中m1等位基因频率为m2的58倍（P〈0.01）。结果显示,中国新疆维吾尔族人群胞色素P450酶同工酶2C19弱代谢型（m1/m1）频率低于汉族,由于m1等位基因频率远高于汉族人群,因此维吾尔族胞色素P450酶同工酶2C19基因突变以m1型为主。     

Consanguinity: a risk factor for preterm birth at less than 33 weeks' gestation

Consanguinity promotes homozygosity of recessive susceptibility gene variants and can be used to investigate a recessive component in diseases whose inheritance is uncertain. The objective of this study was to assess the association between consanguinity and preterm birth (PTB), stratified by gestational age and clinical presentation (spontaneous vs. medically indicated). Data were collected on 39,745 singleton livebirths without major birth defects, admitted to 19 hospitals in Lebanon, from September 2003 to December 2007. Deliveries before completed 33 weeks' gestation and deliveries at 33-36 weeks' gestation were compared, with respect to cousin marriage, with those after completed 36 weeks' gestation by using multinomial multiple logistic regression. Overall, infants of consanguineous parents had a statistically significant 1.6-fold net increased risk of being born at less than 33 weeks' gestation compared with infants of unrelated parents. This association was statistically significant only with spontaneous PTB. There was no increased risk of being born at 33-36 weeks' gestation associated with consanguinity for both clinical presentations of PTB. Our findings support a genetic contribution to early onset PTB and suggest that early PTB should be targeted in future genetic studies rather than the classic lumping of all births less than 37 weeks' gestation.