Effectiveness of 16S ribosomal DNA real-time PCR and sequencing for diagnosing bacterial keratitis

Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology - To evaluate the efficacy of real-time PCR for 16S ribosomal DNA (16S r-DNA) and sequencing for diagnosing microbial keratitis. We...     

Cognitive behavioral therapy for depression changes medial prefrontal and ventral anterior cingulate cortex activity associated with self-referential processing

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), an effective treatment for depression, targets self-referential processing of emotional stimuli. We examined the effects of CBT on brain functioning during self-referential processing in depressive patients using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Depressive patients (n = 23) and healthy participants (n = 15) underwent fMRI scans during a self-referential task using emotional trait words. The depressive patients had fMRI scans before and after completing a total of 12 weekly sessions of group CBT for depression, whereas the healthy participants underwent fMRI scans 12 weeks apart with no intervention. Before undergoing CBT, the depressive patients showed hyperactivity in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) during self-referential processing of negative words. Following CBT, MPFC and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) activity during self-referential processing among depressive patients was increased for positive stimuli, whereas it was decreased for negative stimuli. Improvements in depressive symptoms were negatively correlated with vACC activity during self-referential processing of negative stimuli. These results suggest that CBT-related improvements in depressive symptoms are associated with changes in MPFC and vACC activation during self-referential processing of emotional stimuli.     

The muscle findings in a pediatric patient with live attenuated oral polio vaccine-related flaccid monoplegia

A pediatric patient, who was given live-attenuated oral polio vaccine twice without distinct gait disturbance during infancy, begun to present limp at 3 years. His gait disturbance became remarkable with aging. At 7 years, he was unable to dorsiflex the left ankle, and presented flaccid monoplegia of the left lower extremity, and the left Achilles tendon reflex was diminished. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed multiple crack-lines in the left anterior tibial muscle, but was unable to detect any distinct lesion at responsible level of L4, L5 and S1 anterior horn cells’ degeneration. Electromyography showed continuous fibrillation potentials, but muscle biopsy presented nearly normal in this muscle. The serum levels of polio antibody type 1 and type 2 titers were elevated 64× respectively, while the type 3 antibody titer was not elevated 4×. This patient was diagnosed as live attenuated oral polio vaccine-related flaccid monoplegia, with mild clinical course.     

Expression of the multidrug-resistance-associated protein (MRP) gene in human colorectal,gastric and non-small-cell lung carcinomas

MRP has been identified as another multidrug-resistance (MDR) gene and may be involved in an alternative MDR mechanism in some solid tumors. We investigated the expression of MRP mRNA in multidrug-resistant KB sublines (KB-8-5, KB-C2, C-A40 and C-A120), human non-small-cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC), gastric and colorectal carcinomas, and compared it with that in drug-sensitive human KB cells, MRP gene expression was elevated in 8 of 9 (89%) squamous-cell carcinomas of the lung. Furthermore, MRP expression in 4 squamous-cell carcinomas (L13, 18, 19 and 20) was more than 3.6 times higher than in KB-3-I cells, and the average MRP mRNA expression level of all squamous-cell carcinomas was significantly higher than that of adenocarcinoma of the lung and of colorectal and gastric carcinomas. These results suggested that the MRP is responsible, at least in part, for drug resistance in some squamous-cell carcinomas of the lung. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) antigenaemia for rapid diagnosis and monitoring of CMV-associated disease after bone marrow transplantation

A technique for the rapid detection of cytomegalovirus (CMV) antigen-positive blood leucocytes (CMV antigenaemia) was evaluated in 15 marrow transplant patients as a means of diagnosis and for monitoring CMV-associated disease. CMV antigenaemia was determined by direct immunoperoxidase staining of leucocytes with a peroxidase-labelled monoclonal antibody, HRP-C7, which binds an immediate-early antigen of human CMV.
CMV antigenaemia occurred in 7/15 marrow transplant patients (47%) and was initially detected between 4 and 6 weeks after transplantation. CMV-associated diseases developed in 3/15 patients (20%). All patients with CMV-associated disease had a relatively large number of CMV antigen-positive leucocytes, exceeding 10 per 50000 white blood cells (WBCs). In the remaining 12 patients, CMV antigen-positive leucocytes were less than 10 per 50000 WBCs or were undetectable. CMV-associated disease did not develop in these patients during the period of monitoring. CMV antigen-positive leucocytes were detected more frequently in patients who developed acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) or haemorrhagic cystitis than in those without such complications. CMV antigens were detectable from 1 to 4 weeks before the onset of CMV-associated disease which allowed initiation of ganciclovir treatment at an early stage. The degree of CMV antigenaemia paralleled the clinical symptoms and signs, higher degrees of antigenaemia being associated with more significant disease. Thus, the detection of CMV antigen-positive blood leucocytes is useful for the diagnosis and monitoring of CMV-associated disease following bone marrow transplantation.     

去甲斑蝥素诱导人黑色素瘤A375-S2细胞凋亡

目的:研究去甲斑蝥素(NCTD)诱导人黑色素瘤A375-S2细胞凋亡的机制.方法:采用MTT法、形态学观察、DNA凝胶电泳及Western blot检测法.结果:去甲斑蝥素可诱导A375-S2细胞发生凋亡.半胱氨酸天冬氨酸酶(caspase)-3,-9抑制剂可以部分的抑制NCTD诱导的细胞死亡.细胞凋亡时caspase-3,8,-9酶活力升高,caspase-3底物-caspase-3激活的DNA酶抑制物(ICAD)蛋白表达下降,同时Bcl-2/Bax、Bcl-xL/Bax蛋白表达比率明显降低.结论:去甲斑蝥素通过激活caspase和Bcl-2家族诱导A375-S2细胞凋亡.