Pediatric lupus versus adult lupus role of the laboratory

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the archetypical immunologic disease. Approximately 20% of patients present in the first two decades of life. This article highlights some of the differences between pediatric and adult onset lupus.Children are defined as different from adults on the basis of age. Lupus presents with different gender ratios based on hormonal or pubertal status with more significant skewing toward female patients in the childbearing years. Female patients in the childbearing years appear to have a higher relative risk for mortality. Despite this, children have greater disease severity at onset based on the number of patients who present with significant organ inflammation, the amount of corticosteroids required and the abnormalities in lupus serologies including autoantibodies and low complements. Children present frequently with congenital and acquired complement defects. Children have an increased risk of infections that can be confused with lupus. They have a higher risk of serious pneumococcal infection and may have less protection from vaccinations received at the time of disease onset.The clinical immunology laboratory is critical in the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric SLE. The rapid analysis and transfer of laboratory results can be life saving for the child with suspected new onset lupus. The laboratory is also helpful in determining disease activity through analysis of immunologic trends over time in pediatric lupus patients. This is especially important in the noncompliant adolescent patient who has a correlation between disease activity and lupus serologic tests. Finally, the clinical immunology laboratory is an important tool for better understanding of the immunologic phenomena associated with lupus and of disease pathophysiology.     

保留假体清创治疗人工膝关节置换术后感染的作用

[目的]探讨保留假体清创在治疗人工膝关节置换术后感染中的可行性、适应证、成功和失败的相关因素以及注意事项.[方法]回顾分析本院自1990～2004年收治的人工膝关节置换术后感染病例,发现9例病人在治疗开始时曾尝试采用清创灌注冲洗的方法保留假体,对这9例病人进行总结,并对可能影响清创是否成功的因素进行统计学分析.[结果]本组9例病人中4例保留了假体,平均随访18个月（10～25个月）,感染均无复发.由于病例数较少,本研究针对可能影响清创成功的因素未能得出有意义的统计学结果,但从结果看：急性感染清创容易成功,而慢性感染则很难获得成功;表皮葡萄球菌成功率较高,金黄色葡萄球菌均失败;表面膝置换成功率较高,而铰链膝置换则难以获得成功;出现症状后应该抓紧时间进行清创,延误的时间越长,成功的可能性越低.[结论]保留假体清创在人工膝关节置换术后感染的治疗中有一定的应用价值,对于术后急性感染病人和术后晚期急性血源性感染病人应尝试进行保留假体清创治疗,但必须严格掌握手术时机及适应证才能获得成功.     

脾原发性淋巴瘤超微结构观察与流式细胞分析

目的 探讨诊断电镜（DEM）对脾原发性淋巴瘤的病理分型的超微结构特征。流式细胞术（FCM）测定瘤细胞DNA倍性与恶性程度的关系。方法 应用透射电镜和流式细胞术观察分析41例脾原发性淋巴瘤的超微结构和瘤细胞DNA倍性。结果41例脾原发性淋巴瘤中霍奇金淋巴瘤5例,电镜下R-S细胞呈双叶不规则核和对称致密大核仁,核内常染色质明显,胞质内见中等量线粒体,较长的粗面内质网。非霍奇金B细胞性淋巴瘤21例,裂细胞性5例,细胞核大,核伴有较深的裂沟,胞浆少,胞质见少数肿胀线粒体,无核裂细胞性7例,细胞核规则,呈圆或卵圆型,异染色质多呈条块状,核仁中等大,胞质少,见少量线粒体及长粗面内质网。混合细胞性,瘤细胞大小悬殊,大畸形核较多,核扭曲,不规则深沟及不对称分叶,形成多叶核。非霍奇金T免疫母细胞淋巴瘤11例,瘤细胞较大,核小胞质相对多,胞质透明,核多形性,有的呈圆或卵圆形,核膜薄,有深浅不一的凹陷,可见小核仁。淋巴母细胞性5例,淋巴母曲核性淋巴瘤,细胞为中小形,呈锯齿状核和扭曲状核,异染色质沿核膜聚集,核仁小。毛细胞性淋巴瘤1例,毛细胞的绒毛宽基底,核仁大,胞浆无核糖体板层复合物。组织细胞性淋巴瘤3例,细胞浆丰富,核圆或椭圆形,偶见核膜呈锯齿状或折叠,线粒体和溶酶体丰富,无细胞连接和Birbeck颗粒。FCM     

补肾抗衰口服液对大鼠衰老模型免疫器官影响的实验研究

研究补肾抗衰口服液对大鼠衰老模型免疫器官胸腺和脾脏的影响.结果显示,模型组大鼠胸腺和脾脏重量减轻,胸腺重/体重比值、脾重/体重比值减小,胸腺组织学观察,显示萎缩改变;药物组大鼠胸腺和脾脏重量、胸腺重/体重、脾重/体重比值接近正常对照组,胸腺组织学观察,未显示萎缩改变.本研究结果表明,补肾抗衰口服液能延缓胸腺和脾脏萎缩,保护机体的正常免疫功能,提示该药有抗衰老的作用.     

Changes with growth hormone treatment in growth hormone deficient children

A total of 54 previously untreated patients (15 girls, 39 boys) with poor growth due to idiopathic growth hormone deficiency (IGHD) were treated with human growth hormone (hGH), continuously up to 4 years. All of the patients had a peak hGH level which was below 10 ng/mL after at least two pharmacological tests and/or blunted physiologic hGH secretion, and their height was below ?2.5 s.d. for age and gender. After the 1st year of therapy, height velocity (HV) increased significantly when compared with baseline (from 3.18 ±0.76 cm/year to 9.17±1.03 cm/year; P <0.001), declined during the 2nd year and then remained significantly higher than pretreatment HV. When considering improvement in height expressed by height standard deviation score (SDS), during the therapy all of the patients showed a significant gain ± 1.72±1.09 (from ?4.11±0.61 to ?2.21±0.48). The height values were significantly higher than pretreatment, but remained below ?2 s.d. after 4 years of hGH therapy in our patients. Increased height velocity has been sustained, but height improvement after therapy was inversely correlated to height SDS for chronological age of patients at the start of therapy. In conclusion post-treatment height has been shown to be related to height deficit at the beginning of therapy. Therapy was well tolerated with no local or systemic adverse effects or acceleration of bone age.     

均衡组间差异的有效方法:倾向评分

目的：实例介绍倾向评分法的基本原理和适用条件，设计适用于分析二分类资料的SAS宏程序。方法：运用倾向评分比较平衡前后两组间差异的改变情况，评价放弃心肺复苏急救与充血性心力衰竭患者院内死亡的联系。结果：采用分层法和匹配法都可以有效地平衡两组各个特征变量间所存在的高度差异，三种分析方法获得相近的估计结果。结论：倾向评分法是均衡组间差异的有效方法，能够匹配和平衡各个特征变量的作用，并用于分析各种观察性研究资料。     

50例冠心病某些生化基础观测的临床诊断意义

对５０例冠心病患者进行某些生化基础观测，发现冠心病肾阴虚与糖耐量减低有关，肾阳虚患者尿１７－羟低於正常；而冠心病标证有其生化基础，与甘油三酯增高有密切相关。     

Retention: An unresolved workforce issue affecting rural occupational therapy services

Failure to retain health professionals in rural areas contributes to the poor health status of these communities through an inability to deliver reliable and consistent services. Considerable attention has been focused on factors affecting recruitment of health professionals. Far less is known about factors affecting the retention of occupational therapists. This was the focus of this study. Ethnographic interviews were used to explore the experiences of 10 occupational therapists who had left rural practice. Six themes emerged from the participants' experiences, from when they first considered rural practice to reflections following their departure from it. These themes were initial appeal, facing the challenge, rural practice issues, the social sphere, reasons for leaving and the value of rural experience. These factors gave rise to a proposed Model of Retention Equilibrium, which suggests that retention can be improved by addressing the imbalance between incentives to leave and incentives to stay. The model provides a useful framework for occupational therapists contemplating rural practice, as well as for health services managers responsible for service delivery in rural areas.     

Additive effects of CD59 expression in Gal knockout mice in vitro but not in an ex vivo model

Abstract: Transgenic expression of the human complement regulatory molecule CD59 in mice and genetic deletion of the major xenoantigen galactose α 1,3 galactose (Gal KO) each resulted in partial protection of spleen cells from lysis by human serum. These protective effects were additive when the two genetic modifications were combined. However, when the effects of these genetic modifications were examined in an ex vivo model in which mouse hearts were perfused with human plasma, it was Gal KO which was the modification which determined protection. CD59 expression alone was not protective and CD59 expression in combination with Gal knockout did not result in a significant additional increase in protection over and above that provided by Gal knockout alone. The likely explanation for this discrepancy between the in vitro and ex vivo data is that the H2-K^b promoter used to drive CD59 expression results I in substantially less expression on endothelium than on spleen cells.     

Hemangioma of the Prostatic Urethra: Hematospermia and Massive Postejaculation Hematuria with Clot Retention

The case of a 53-year-old man with hematospermia and massive postejaculation hematuria that caused urinary retention is described. This is the sixth case in the English and Japanese language literature. Cystourethroscopic examination revealed that a solitary raised tumor was present just distal to the vermontanum, and that bleeding was from its apex. Histologic examination of an excisional biopsy sample showed features compatible with hemangioma.