皮质激素辅助治疗结核性脑膜炎的研究现状

结核性脑膜炎（tuberculous meningitis，TBM）以血脑屏障紊乱、颅内压升高和脑水肿为特征，是人型结核分枝杆菌感染最严重的类型。未经治疗死亡率达100%，治疗后死亡率约为10%，生存者中约80%有严重的神经系统后遗症。随着新增病例的不断增多，世界卫生组织（World Health Organiza-tion，WHO）在2007年的结核防治报告中提出：“要让所有结核患者都有机会得到有效的治疗。”目前尚没有明确针对TBM最佳治疗方案的临床指南。临床上主要参考肺结核的治疗方案。     

Lip morphology estimation models based on three-dimensional images in a modern adult population from China

International Journal of Legal Medicine - Lips are the main part of the lower facial soft tissue and are vital to forensic facial approximation (FFA). Facial soft tissue thickness (FSTT) and linear...     

Time-average albumin predicts the long-term prognosis of IgA nephropathy patients achieved remission

Objective To clarify the long-term renal prognosis and related risk factors of progression for IgA nephropathy (IgAN) patients who achieved remission under current therapy. To identify the target value of the serum albumin level for Chinese patients with IgAN. Methods The patients with biopsy-proven primary IgAN in Nephrology Department of Renji Hospital in Shanghai were studied．The survival of renal and the relationships between clinical parameters and renal outcome were assessed. Results A total of 369 patients between Jan 2005 and Dec 2010 were included with a median follow-up time of 49.0 (38.0-65.8) months. All the subjects had achieved a complete remission (CR) or partial remission (PR) following six months’ therapy after diagnosis. Progressive renal disease had occurred in 61 cases at the end of follow-up. Three variables had a significant independent effect on renal outcome in patients achieving remission under current therapy regimen for IgAN, including time-average serum creatinine (TA-Scr) [HR(95%CI): 1.03(1.01-1.04)], time-average serum albumin (TA-Alb) [HR(95%CI): 0.83 (0.69-0.99)], and eGFR ratio within one year [HR(95%CI): 0.00(0.00-0.01)]. By multivariate Cox analyses, each 1 g/L drop of TA-Alb was related with 17.2% increase in the risk of renal progression. The ROC curve indicated that combination of serum albumin at baseline and during a long-term had a more significant value in prediction of renal outcome than independent predictor alone. By Kaplan-Meier analyses, patients with TA-Alb﹤38 g/L had a 10.4 fold sincreased risk of progressive disease compared with that of TA-Alb﹥38 g/L. Conclusions IgAN patients with lower eGFR ratio, higher TA-Scr and lower TA-Alb would progress to ESRD more quickly, and serum albumin during follow-up is important for predicting IgAN progression.     

Comparative study on the catalytic steam reforming of biomass pyrolysis oil and its derivatives for hydrogen production

In order to explore the reforming process of biomass pyrolysis oil in depth, the catalytic steam reforming (SR) of crude bio-oil (BIO) derived from rapid pyrolysis of rice husk and its derivatives for hydrogen production was studied by means of a bench-scale fixed-bed unit combined with the FTIR/TCD technique. The physico-chemical properties and compositions of BIO were determined. Acetic acid (HOAc), ethylene glycol (EG), acetone (ACE) and phenol (PHE) were selected as four representative bio-oil derivatives. Evolution characteristics of H₂, CO, CO₂ and CH₄ during SR of HOAc, EG, ACE, PHE and BIO were revealed and compared. The hydrogen yield increased sharply with reaction time to the peak values of 24.7%, 32.3%, 16.4%, 25.6% and 24.9%, corresponding to HOAc, EG, ACE, PHE and BIO, respectively. After that, the yield of hydrogen exhibited a downward trend, suggesting that the catalyst ability for selective hydrogen production gradually decreased. The H₂ yield from EG was the highest, followed by PHE, HOAc, BIO and ACE. The order of CO yields from large to small was EG > HOAc > ACE > BIO ≈ PHE. The percentages of coke deposited on catalyst were arranged in descending order as HOAc > BIO > ACE > PHE > EG. This study could provide more detailed information on the catalytic reforming mechanism of bio-oil on the one hand, and also point out the direction for the improvement of the catalysts, which play a role in ensuring the high yield of H₂ while converting CO to H₂ through the water gas shift reaction.

Evolution of H₂, CO, CO₂ and CH₄ during catalytic steam reforming of the bio-oil and its different derivatives was revealed.     

Triiodothyronine modulates thymocyte migration

Triiodothyronine (T(3)) exerts several effects on thymus physiology. In this sense, T(3) is known to stimulate thymic microenvironmental cells to enhance the production of extracellular matrix (ECM) moieties, which are relevant in thymocyte migration. Here, we further investigated the in vivo influence of T(3) on ECM production, as well as on ECM-related T-cell migration events. For this, BALB/c mice were subjected to two protocols of T(3) treatment: long-term (30 days) i.p. daily T(3) injections or short-term (16 h) after a single T(3) intrathymic injection. These two treatments did promote an enhancement in the expression of fibronectin and laminin, in both cortex and medullary regions of the thymic lobules. As revealed by the long-term treatment, the expression of ECM protein receptors, including VLA-4, VLA-5 and VLA-6, was also increased in thymocyte subsets issued from T(3)-treated mice. We further used thymic nurse cells (TNC) as an in vitro system to study the ECM-related migration of immature thymocytes in the context of thymic epithelial cells. Even a single intrathymic injection of T(3) resulted in an increase in the ex vivo exit of thymocytes from TNC lymphoepithelial complexes. Accordingly, when we evaluated thymocyte migration in transwell chambers pre-coated with ECM proteins, we found an increase in the numbers of migrating cells, when thymocytes were derived from T(3)-treated mice. Overall, our data show that in vivo intrathymic short-term i.p. long-term T(3) treatments are able to modulate thymocyte migration, probably via ECM-mediated interactions.